The Heart of the Matter Lesson Plan

What exactly happened to the people on the boat? We find out in bits and pieces. Have the students break it down via textual evidence.

The boat was torpedoed by Vichy French. There could be no rescue for 40 days due to weather and the war. There are people on stretchers, people who can walk, and people who died. Helen becomes a major character, but the others serve to illustrate pieces of Scobie's history and describe the general brutality of war and life in the colonies. Be sure that the students understand how drinking water and survival must have worked on the rescue boats and why they were not rescued earlier (a combination of fear of German reprisal and stormy...