The Boat By Allistair Macleod Analysis

Life-alternating decisions are often judged by others, but one can not dictate another's life as they do not have to live it. If you believe a loved one is making an incorrect life choice, it is tough to not involve yourself and try to influence their decision.
The short story, “The Boat'' by Allistair Macleod shows the traditional roles carried out from generation to generation setting expectations for individuals. It's further shown, by the protagonist's father, the willingness to self-sacrifice increases as the next generation prepares to fulfill their traditional roles. In the text, the father shows his resentment toward the obligation he faced to become a fisherman. The external pressure from the mother to uphold the status quo within

Because the father has endured the hardships of the traditional fishing lifestyle, he feels as if he needs to direct his children to follow a different path. When his daughters reach an age when they need to make significant decisions, he feels obliged to influence them. The mother is overbearing on their children and can not see living any other type of life besides the traditional fishing lifestyle. When the daughters display any interest in other aspects of life she would state that none of her daughters are “interested in any of the right things”(5). When the daughters first explored their father's room they had “the ideal hope of imposing order” (5) The daughters first thought when entering the madness of their father’s room is to try to impose order by cleaning and making it like the rest of the house. This shows the impact the mother has had on the children, they are extremely disciplined to fulfill the domestic household ideals. The mother manipulates the daughters so they only know one type of life, this compels the father to make a selfless impact to broaden their worldview. As soon as the daughter began to be involved with the father “change would begin”(5) because he can show them an alternate lifestyle. Shortly after the father's quarrel with his daughters they “grew restless and lost interest”(5) in activities like darning socks or baking bread. Despite the daughters being taught to fulfill those domestic roles their whole lives, they quickly began to change after the swaying effect from the father. Though the father had good intentions for his children, he is quite similar to the mother as he is also imposing his morals onto the children. The daughters eventually end up abandoning the traditional roles and moving on to opportunities away from the fishing community. Fortunately for the father, all the daughters