Lousy Shipmate
The author complains about being aboard ship. Then complains more when other seamen aren’t nice.
“A ship is a dangerous place at any time; but when one of your shipmates wishes you harm, then harm is certain to befall you. In that way a ship is like a trapeze act, or a family, or a company of soldiers.”
Bad Taste in Women
The author perhaps unwittingly reveals that he doesn’t seem to have the finest and most delicate taste in women. Or maybe it is just something to with Russian gals.
“She drank like a man and ate like a wolf. I fell in love with her the first night.”
Talk About Your Wild Dreams
The author also reveals the content of his dreams. Many people have dreams beyond any reality of coming true. And then there are those who are just delusional:
“I lived in a dream anyway, in which I featured then as a young Melville, my bleary alcoholic shipmates as bold, vivid characters with interesting histories they would one day lay bare to me.”
No, Like Really Delusional
Fantasizing that you are Herman Melville is bad enough. But in a later fantasy, the author really goes over the deep end. Not that the distance from Melville to deity is really all that far, all things considered:
“I was under no obligation to go along on these trips, Medcaps as they were called, but they made me feel useful. That was why I kept going out. It was like being a missionary; even a god.”
Sergeant Benet
Simile is often used to describe character. It is shorthand that keeps the writer from having to expend unnecessary words and energy to paint a picture. Of course, some writers work harder at it than others:
“Sergeant Benet…smoked a Pall Mall without taking it from his lips, just letting it smolder and hang. He looked like a jazz pianist.”
