People may encounter obstacles at times, but the way they overcome those obstacles matures them. Horatio Hornblower encountered many obstacles on his journey, and he matured a lot through his actions with each obstacle. Through the book, Horatio matures and develops self-worth. When Hornblower first encounters Simpson, he sees that Simpson is very aggressive; this makes Hornblower timorous. Simpson’s aggressiveness is shown when he insults Hornblower and does not treat him with respect. Simpson was demoted from acting-lieutenant to midshipman, and sees Hornblower is well-appreciated by Keene, the captain. Simpson usually slacked off and didn’t do much which is why he got demoted. Simpson is jealous and starts insulting Hornblower, and Hornblower …show more content…
“Never this side of Hell.” “You hear that, gentlemen?” said Hornblower. “I have been insulted and Mr. Simpson refuses to apologise while insulting me further. There is only one way now in which satisfaction can be given.” (page 24) Hornblower is suggesting a duel. We, as the readers, can see from this that Hornblower values himself and has an understanding of what is just and unjust. Right from the beginning in chapter one, we see that Hornblower stands up for what he thinks is just and right. He knew he was being insulted, so he did something about it: he suggested a duel. To the two men, the most sound way to do the duel would be to have one gun loaded and one gun not. This of course was sound in their eyes. This is because they both want the other dead, and it was the fastest. They would both shoot at each other and see who got shot. Both guns ended up not loaded, and there was no death. Keene had unloaded both guns prior to the “shooting”, so no one got hurt. From this time in the plot, we, as the readers, see that Hornblower values himself and has self-worth. We can see this because he stands up for what he believes, and he can go to the extent of proposing a