The Theme Of Self Sacrifice In Alistair Mcleod's The Boat

The Danger That Lies In The Sea of Self Sacrifice

By Mateo Bochinski

The capacity of one's ability to self-sacrifice is often measured by their actions in a situation of instability. Whether one can withstand the situation with a degree of resilience or shatter under the burden is dependent on the person’s way of life and their ideas of fulfillment. For a parent the overwhelming desire to sacrifice for the well-being of their family, is thought to play a role in fulfillment. However, the short story “The Boat” by Alistair Mcleod exemplifies the potential self-sacrifice can have in the role of destruction. Through the narrator's (the son’s) account, the story follows the life of a rural fishing family with set beliefs and values instilled

Despite his efforts to appease his wife by continuing the customs she held sacred, she loathed him. Instead of feeling gratitude, the mother develops a sense of stinging bitterness towards him for leaving her alone to raise the children by herself. She feels as if he comes and goes “as if we are nothing to you”. Her resentment is as unforgiving as the sea, and even the son recognizes “the iron-tipped harpoons which (his) mother would forever hurl into his soul because he was a failure as a husband and father who had retained (no triumphs) of his own.” Furthermore, the fact that the father must make the sacrifice of working arduously on a small & worn down boat in order to support his family, has a damaging effect on his relationship with his children. His daughters feel resentment towards him due to his continuous labours at sea, and his pre-occupations with escape at home. Tucked away in his room, the eldest daughter feels as if he were “never here”. The fact that this animosity exists demonstrates that the efforts made by the father were often to his detriment, and not always recognized or understood by his

He also feared his own son who expressed in his “heart a very great love for his father and thought it was much braver to spend a life doing what you (did) not want rather than selfishly follow your own inclinations,” would make the same mistakes he did and remain trapped in the cycle of the fishermen. He advocated for his son to pursue a life of education and for his daughters to break away from the community, out of his own feelings of regret from not pursuing his dreams, which is evident from the way he states, "I have always been a fisherman. I have never had anything else." The narrator, who is the father's son, also has feelings of remorse and worry as a result of his decision to pursue his studies and abandon his father. It is clear that the father made a significant sacrifice by devoting his whole life to fishing in order to provide for his family, but the truth remains he was never able to realize his aspirations and is deeply regretful in his