Summary Of Nikesh Shukla's Short Story 'Canute'

From the beginning of time men have been hunting to provide for their family, working with their hands and getting “dirty” as one would call it. These almost ritual trips did not only function as a way of providing, but also as a way of connecting with mother nature. The same thing goes for the wish to control mother nature, a form of man vs. nature, yet through time we are have come to know “there are things he can’t control” Nikesh Shukla’s short story “Canute” centers around the feeling of a man not being able to control nature, and the ambivalent feeling of both dominance and inferiority in the depths of the ocean.

Through a third person limited narrator we see the main character who is on a difficult path to prove his worth as a man, as the provider of the

The first tenuous feeling is described in the first flashback, where he is on a ski trip with Sarah, and he learns that he scared of heights, “He didn’t know what was worse – the height he could see or the height he couldn’t”. This is of course not comfortable to know, and is why he resorts to swimming instead “He has always been a strong swimmer”, the feeling of being good at something gives an incentive to do

A common legend told about him, is his demonstration that secular power is vain compared to the power of god. His servants were praising him as having control over everything, his power was beyond this world – he asks them if he is so mighty that he may control the tides, to which they reply that of course the tides will stop by the hand of mighty King Canute. King Canute then reveals that the tides will stop for no one, not even the king. The theme is similar Shukla’s short story, the theme of mother nature vs man, and that we will never control