Caught By The Sea My Life On Boats Essay

Caught by the Sea: My Life on Boats Caught by the Sea: My Life on Boats is about the Gary Paulsen’s life on the sea. In this book he talks about his main voyage. Mr. Paulsen just got out of the army and had nothing to do and nowhere to be. For some reason he wanted to go see the beach so bad that he felt like he was going to die. He got in his car and drove down to California where he spend a few day staying on the beach admiring the view, and smells of the beach. The beach reminded him of his will to explore, which left him wanting to go out there and explore it, so he bought a boat. He also takes the reader on his first sailing experience, “proving that ignorance can be bliss. Also really stupid and incredibly dangerous.” (back of cover)

Mr. Paulsen is a great writer, he even writes in this book about how he had not thought about being a writer yet, but he must have been making as many smart decision as he has when he was sailing, people might be able to see why he could be a good writer, one good philosophy he had when he was sailing was when he was in a huge gust of wind, he writes, “I couldn’t change the wind but perhaps I could reduce the effect of the wind on the boat.” (46) This is a good philosophy for a first time sailor to have, he must be catching on quick! When readers know what the characters are thinking they can have a better understanding of how certain characters think which will help them understand the point of view. Mr. Paulsen love to look at soothing sights, at least that is what his character is thinking on page 13, when he wrote, “this beginning motion, this first time when a sail truly filled and the boat took life and knifed across the lake under perfect control, this was so beautiful it stopped my breath.” This quote shows how much he loved to sail. The author showing what the characters in a story are thinking can help them determine what point of view the author is writing