9. Heritage of Words (The Last Voyage of the ghost ship) -Gabriel Garcia Marquez

The Last Voyage Of The Ghost Ship

-Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Summary-1

The Last Voyage Of The Ghost Ship was written by Colombian novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez narrated by an omniscient narrator in a stream of consciousness technique, this story presents the growth of a weak and ordinary boy to a bold and assertive young man.

This story is an example of magic realism in which impossible ideas are expressed in such a way that they appear to be real this is written in the stream of consciousness technique using only one full stop throughout the story. The story writer presents his ideas in a complicated way. Therefore average readers find difficult to understand the text.

The small boy of the story used to go to the harbour in the night by taking permission from his mother. He would enjoy watching rotating lights in the sea that would fall upon in every 15 seconds.

In the month of March, a gigantic enormous ship appeared in the sea. The strange thing about the ship was that it would appear and disappear intermittently. It would disappear when the rotation light fell upon the sea and it would reappear upon the light shifted to another place. The boy was surprised when the ship slowly sank into the sea and broke into pieces without making any sound.

When the boy came there next morning he didn’t find any sign of the ship even the broken pieces. He could only see the radiant fishbowl, huts of the negros and boats of the smugglers He could not decide whether it was a dream or reality. Therefore, he didn’t tell about it to anyone.

The next March, the boy saw the same huge ship with the same mistaken direction. This time he was sure that he was awake. So he told his mother about it but she didn’t believe him.

She was unable to go to the city to bring a chair so that she could think about her dead husband sitting on it. Instead, she asked a boatman to look at it what the boy had seen. The boatman didn’t see any sign of the sunken ship either.

The boy was so stubborn that he made his mother promise to make her see the ship, next match. While thinking about her late husband sitting on the newly bought chair she had a heart attack. When the boy returned home in the evening, he found his mother was dead. Four other women of the village also died sitting on the same chair. Finally, the chair was thrown into the sea.

Instead of living on public charity, the boy chose to live stealing fish from boats. He was pointed out as the son of a widow who had brought the evil chair into the village.

The next March he saw the same huge ship again. And he shouted madly. Dogs barked, women were frightened, and even the old men of the village hid themselves in fear. Those people who came to the boy to look at the ship left him beaten because they could see no ship. Instead of being defeated, the boy’s voice grew louder and bolder. He threatened the villagers saying now they are going to see who the boy was. In the absorption, he didn’t care the usual things he used to care about. He just waited for the next march, when he would be able to prove his matured strength and boldness.

When the time came he stole a boat, took a lantern, crossed the bay and waited for the ship. The lantern he was carrying was turned off so as not to draw the attention of the custom police. The ship arrived as he had expected it was big and dark. There were a lot of drowned animals floating on the water in the ship. With the flash of the beacon, it disappeared. No sooner had the light passed it appeared again. It was moving towards the wrong direction because it’s compass were out of orders. When the boy lighted the lantern, the ship corrected its course and began to follow the boy.

The animal corpses went to the bottom and the engine began to work again. It was a lucky resurrection of the ship. The boy was neither confused by emotion nor was he frightened by the miracle. He continued guiding the ship until he brought it into his village.

The entire village was illuminated by the light of the ship itself. The ship stroke on the ground, breaking the glasses in it. The ship was 97 times longer than the village, 20 times taller than steeple of the church and white than anything else in the world. Its name Halalcisillag was engraved in iron letters. The boy was pleased to see the disbelievers watching the ship.

 

The Last Voyage of the Ghost Ship

Writer: G. G. Marquez

SUMMARY -2

This story is written by applying a stream of consciousness technique. It explains how a boy deepens his observation and grows from an ordinary boy to an assertive young man.

When the story starts we find the boy is already grown into assertive man, when he asserts, “Now they are going to see who I am.” But in the very next line, we are made familiar about the past events through retrospective technique.

Four years ago in March, the boy saw a huge ship, which lost its way, crushed to rock and sank. There were no lights on the ship. Neither had it appeared in the light of the lighthouse. He could only see the ship in extreme darkness. Our common sense tells that we can see an object only if it is luminous or it is illuminated. Thus, it is clear that it was just an imagination of the boy. He was himself not sure about that vision for the first time and didn’t tell anybody about that.

In the following March, he saw a similar ship again. This time he told his mother about it. His mother didn’t believe him. Rather, she thought the boy became lunatic and lamented for three weeks. However, she assured him that she would go and look at the ship if it came again. But before the arrival of the ship, she died.

When the ship appeared in March again, the boy called the villagers to see that ship. But as there wasn’t any ship and they beat the boy for telling lie. After that, the boy decided if the ship came next time he would show everybody how big the ship was.

The ship appeared in the fourth March too. This time the boy led the ship with a stolen lamp in a small boat. The light of the lamp helped the ship to correct its way and it followed the boy. The boy brought the ship to the village. The gigantic ship was 97 times longer than the village and 20 times taller than the church. The boy imagined that its loud siren had woken the whole village and they were looking at the ship in disbelieve. This would help him to prove his worth and who he was.

Actually it is the story about the powerful imagination of the boy. Sometimes a person’s creative power becomes so sharp that he can see his vision in concrete form. A normal mind with limited power of creativity hardly sees such a picture.

Alternate Summary:

The story very neatly presents the development of the boy from an ordinary boy to a confident young man. As he grows old he shows his will power, determination, strength and intelligence. In his youth, he becomes assertive and confident and speaks of his triumphant vision in a strong new man’s voice.   The boy first saw the ghost ship as a boy. When he woke up the day after he saw it, he thought it was a dream. The next year when he saw it, he knew it was not a dream and he ran to tell his mother who said: “your brain’s rotting away”. After the boy’s mom and four other women die in a rocking chair the people in the village were convinced the chair was evil, so “the murderous chair was thrown into the sea”. Then another March he saw the ghost ship again started yelling “come see it”. No one saw it so they did not believe him. They beat him up, an occurrence which left him “drooling with rage”, and he found himself saying “now they’re going to see who I am”. A year later, he went out into the bay at night to wait for the ship. When it came, the air became filled with a horrible smell, and he when saw it he lit a red lantern and got the ship to follow him. When it was away from the shoals, it turned into a real ship, “with its name engraved in iron letters, Halalcsillag”, and he had it follow him back toward the village where he ran it”aground in front of the church”. In the morning when the villagers came out, they were shocked and amazed that the story of the ship was true.

The Last Voyage of the Ghost Ship

Writer : G. G. Marquez

SUMMARY-3

This story is written by applying stream of consciousness technique. It explains how a boy deepens his observation and grows from an ordinary boy to an assertive young man.

When the story starts we find the boy is already grown into assertive man, when he asserts, “Now they are going to see who I am.” But in the very next line we are made familiar about the past events through retrospective technique.

Four years ago in March, the boy saw a huge ship, which lost its way, crushed to a rock and sank. There were no lights on the ship. Neither had it appeared in the light of the lighthouse. He could only see the ship in extreme darkness. Our common sense tells that we can see an object only if it is luminous or it is illuminated. Thus, it is clear that it was just an imagination of the boy. He was himself not sure about that vision for the first time and didn’t tell anybody about that.

In the following March, he saw a similar ship again. This time he told his mother about it. His mother didn’t believe him. Rather, she thought the boy became lunatic and lamented for three weeks. However, she assured him that she would go and look at the ship if it came again. But before the arrival of the ship, she died.

When the ship appeared in March again, the boy called the villagers to see that ship. But as there wasn’t any ship and they beat the boy for telling lie. After that the boy decided if the ship came next time he would show everybody how big the ship was.

The ship appeared in the fourth March too. This time the boy led the ship with a stolen lamp in a small boat. The light of the lamp helped the ship to correct it way and it followed the boy. The boy brought the ship to the village. The gigantic ship was 97 times longer than the village and 20 times taller than the church. The boy imagined that its loud siren had woken the whole village, and they were looking at the ship in disbelieve. This would help him to prove his worth and who he was.

Actually it is the story about the powerful imagination of the boy. Sometimes a person’s creative power becomes so sharp that he can see his vision in concrete form. A normal mind with limited power of creativity hardly sees such picture.

The Last Voyage of the Ghost Ship
– Gabriel Garcia

Summary - 4

“The Last Voyage of the Ghost Ship” is the imaginative story of the development of a boy into manhood written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The story states the illusion of ghost in reality. She describes the growth of an ordinary boy to a bold, matured and assertive young man. The Story deals with a boy’s miraculous observation of the Ghost Ship. At first the boy has been presented as a new man but he gradually changes towards manhood.

The boy is the central figure in the story who used to see the ghost ships many years before, when the boy was very small, he saw a large ship without any lights and sound. One night, the ship passed by his village. It was long and tall. The ship sailed to the wrong direction. When the lights of the lighthouse fell on it, it disappeared and when the lights were off, it appeared. The next day, the boy saw no any sign of the ship and realized that it was his dream. The boy was growing up everyday. In the next March, the boy again saw the Ghost Ship in the sea. This time, the boy was sure that it was not mere dream but a reality. He told his mother and other people in the surrounding about the existence of the ship. However, ‘no body believed him. His mother thought that his mind was out of order. She sent a boatman to observe whether there was ship or not. The boatman saw nothing more than the fish and the hares. The mother of the boy brought a chair from the town, sat on it thinking about her dead husband and then she died.

After the death of his mother, the boy became orphan. Nobody loved and cared him. When he saw the Ghost Ship and shouted, people beat him. Some other women also died who sat on the chair brought by his mother from the town. People threw the evil chair on the sea. They hated the boy as his mother was widow who brought the evil chair in the village. The boy didn’t want to live on the charity (~. He began to steal fish out of the boat. He had to face many difficulties in his lonely life. However, he never accepted defeat. He grew stronger and determined. Isolation and anger made him firm and assertive. He took a strong decision, stole a boat and waited for the Ghost Ship in the channel. He wanted to show the disbelievers who he was. The large Ghost Ship reappeared. He guided the ship to the village church. The cowards and disbelievers were surprised to see the large ghost ship. In this way, the boy proved his adventure and bravery. He was never confused by emotion and frightened by miracle. He faced the troubles and accepted the challenges. In the beginning, the boy was like mud.

Towards the end of the story, he grew into a firm rock. He proved his manhood or maturity by showing the existence of the gigantic (large) Ghost Ship. The story presents how the confidence and determination leads the boy to reach in the destination of his journey to search the ghost ship as he used to see from his boyhood. It proves that the boy’s efforts and sufferings as well as determination support him to reach his destination.

 

Some Important Questions And Answers From “The Last Voyage Of The Ghost Ship”

ONLY ANSWERS ARE HERE ! CONSULT BOOK FOR QUESTIONS !!

     1.     The story traces the development of a boy from his childhood into maturity as the story develops in chronological order. With the chronological order, he encounters with the ghost ship many times. When he saw the ship as first he thought it was only a dream. When he saw next time he told his mother and compelled her to see the ghost ship with him the following year. Unfortunately, she died before the time came. So, he was hated by the people. He didn’t want to get any charity, so he stole fish from the boat and sold them. Once he shouted seeing the ghost ship but the villagers beat him, so he got angry and made a strong decision to meet the ghost ship anyhow. He stole a boat and went to the boy of the sea and waited for her. After all, he was able to meet the ship and thinking very seriously he made a trick and lit a lantern to control the ghost ship. Magically, the ship came under his control, and he led it to his village where he was beaten. At least he carried it to the village and the villagers became surprised what it really was.

As he was a small boy, he couldn’t recognize and know the real existence of the ship but at last he made a strong decision and plan to meet the ship anyhow and expose him really who he was. He got success with his immaturity. The success and maturity developed are interrelated. He could solve the mystery with his courage and idea which is the result of his maturity. No one else know the existence of the ship because it was the boy’s imagination. When he saw the great whale he shouted as if the miraculous ship appeared there but it was not reality. 

     2.     I mean the boy’s newly discovered ability to control the ship’s moment is his ability to control his imagination and his concept. His strong feeling and range arise due to beating and hatred. He comes to take revenge with the villagers and wants to show his strong power of imagination.

    3.     The protagonist is asserting that he brings the largest ocean liner into his village which pours his strong, imaginative production. At first, he imagines the ship which leads him to expose in the real world. He shouts once about the ship, he is beaten and hated so his dim imagination comes to be strong, and he wants to show his all power to the villagers, so he imagines the large ship to be brought into the village publicly.

    4.     Stream of consciousness reveals the psychological process of the protagonist in writing. Character’s thoughts, and feelings play important roles to develop the incidents. The sensitive description proceeds without plot and logical sequences. On the basis of this story, we can find the boy’s thoughts and imaginations prolonged for pages. We can’t analyze the sentence because of fluctuation of the thoughts of the character. The incidents are led by the boy’s thoughts. It does not play attention to the realities. When we read the story, we don’t find the real and dream explanations. Only thoughts and feelings can be expressed through such style but dialogue, explanation, idea exchange would resist treatment in the style.

     5.     As the story is in the style of stream of consequences, the phrase “Now they are going to see who I am” is the boy’s strong and constant thought which is reoccurring again and again. The refrain helps the whole story to be well organized in consequence of the events. The word ‘now’ reminds that the character is challenged to anyone because they are not regarding his capacity. The word has revealed his mental depression by antagonist in the story. For the more clarification of the same statement we can remember the following examples – ‘his voice was blows and left him twisted – he would not let himself confused by emotion…etc.’

Here ‘they’ means the villagers and disbelievers who beat him and hated him. Those persons upon whom the boy wants to take revenge are ‘they’ (them) who are cowards.

    6.     In the description of the ghost ship, we cannot find clear distinction between the reality and the fantasy. There are other cases too where we can’t find clear differences, such as, … …gloomy beams transfigured the village into an incompetent of glowing house and streets of violence deserts every fifteen seconds, … …to stay very late on the beach to listen to the wind’s might harp, … …the soundest sleeping dragons in the prehistoric jungle that began with the last streets of the village and ended on the other side of the world, The above descriptions are very lively and realistic description.

    7.     The writer presents the description of concrete and visual details in the story. What the boatman really saw in the sea was “the lovemaking of Manta says in a spring time sponges, pink snappers and blue corvine diving into the other wells of softer waters that were among the waters, and even the wandering hairs of victims of downing in some colonial shipwreck…” This type of description is very much realistic.

   8.        As it is written in the style of stream of consciousness, it doesn’t focus on the other experience of the protagonists, which is the main characteristic of such style. The story focuses only on the main characters’, internal thoughts and feelings. In such style of writing, outer experience, dialogue, objective descriptions are not used. The incidents of the story develop with the interior monologue of the protagonist. Mental moment is forwarded. The grand triumph feeling of the boy about the private vision upon disbelievers is internally related with the journey and visions are also his private feelings. The boy feels with strong desire to get success over the disbelievers when they beat him about his false shouting of the ship. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some Important Questions And Answers From “The Last Voyage Of The Ghost Ship”

Question: Narrate the boy’s growth from immaturity and weakness to maturity and assertiveness. How is this process of gaining maturity and assertiveness linked with his encounter with the ghost ship?

Answer: The Last Voyage Of The Ghost Ship was written by Colombian novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez doesn’t have a plot in the usual sense. However, it has a kind of chronology of events that show the narrator’s growth from the time of weakness and immaturity to maturity and assertiveness.

The process of the boy gaining maturity is linked with his encounter with the ghost ship. Each imaginary encounter of the boy with the ghost ship adds maturity in the boy.

When the boy imagined of seeing the ship for the first time he wasn’t quite sure of its existence. So, he told no one about it.

The next march he imagined of seeing the same huge ship with the same mistaken direction. This time he was a bit more confident about the existence of the ship. So, he told his mother about it but she didn’t believe him.

In the third march, he saw the ship again and shouted madly. The villagers left him beaten for having been deceived. However, about the boy didn’t feel defeated instead his voice grew louder and roarer. This time he was so strong and confident that he challenged the villages in a threatening tone. He was even more determined to show them who he was.

In the fourth march, the boy not only imagined of seeing the ship but also imagined of controlling the movement of the ship and leading it to his village.

This time he was matured and confident enough to have control of his private vision. Thus, the more time the boy imagined of seeing the ghost ship, the stronger and more assertive he becomes. So, each imaginary encounter of the boy with the ghost ship contributes to his maturity and assertiveness.

Question: The story “The Last Voyage Of The Ghost Ship” is written in the stream of consciousness style. On the basis of the story, what are some of the chief features of this kind of writing? What themes are especially appropriate to this kind of writing? What subjects would resist treatment in this style?

Answer: Stream of consciousness style is one of the models of narrating a story.

In this style, the thoughts processes of the characters are x-rayed by an omniscient narrator. In this technique, the spoken thoughts and unspoken thoughts, dreams and everyday realities, memories, and expectations and random association mingle up together. There is a blurring of the distinction between subject and object.

Dreams, expectations and thoughts process of the characters can be narrated using this style of narration but the scientific details and concrete realities of everyday life cannot be narrated it in the style

Question: What do you think is meaning of the boy’s newly discovered ability near the end of the story to control the ship’s movement ? ( जहाजको गतिलाई नियन्त्रण गर्ने केटाको क्षमता भनेर कथाको अन्त्यमा भनिएको छ। त्यसको अर्थ के होला जस्तो लाग्दछ ? )
Ans: The meaning of the boy’s newly discovered ability to control the ship’s movement is the boy’s newly developed capacity to handle his imaginative vision successfully. It is the artist’s capacity to give shape to his writing, his skill to deal with words imaginatively and fruitfully. The boy in the story has so much of his leftover anger that he becomes matured through his own will power. He is not all taken away by emotions. He develops the capacity to exhibit his strength successfully.

Question: What is the protagonist asserting when he brings “the largest ocean liner in this world and the other” in the village ? ( यो र अर्को संसारमा हुने विशाल जहाजभन्दा पनि ठूलो जहाज गाउँमा ल्याएको छु भनेर प्रमुख पात्रले के भन्न खोजेको हो ? )
Ans: The protagonist says that he has brought “the largest ocean liner in this world and the other” into his village. By this, he asserts his ability and merit. People of his village (disbelievers) did not believe that he could do any such great thing. But he proves his power to their surprise. He can now independently control his fate.

Question: What does it mean when the boys say “Now they are going to see who I am …..”
Ans: In the story, “Now they are going to see who I am” is repeated like a refrain in a song or poem. This is the major expression in the text. The boy is trying to prove his capacity with the newly gained control over his ship or vision or medium. He is asserting again and again that he is not like what other people think of him. Though he goes to the villagers’ and tells them that he has seen the ocean liner, too huge to be convinced by the ordinary men, the villagers do not believe him. When they do not see it, they beat the boy and ignore him. He makes many attempts but fails to prove until the end when he speaks again “Now they are going to see who I am”.
Or You May Choose Below Answer:
Ans: The incidents of the story develop with the interior monologue of the protagonist. The mental moment is forwarded. The grand triumph feeling of the boy about the private vision upon disbelievers is internally related with the journey and visions are also his private feelings. The boy feels with a strong desire to get success over the disbelievers when they beat him about his false shouting of the ship.
The refrain is a powerful expression in the story. As the story is written in the “Stream of Consciousness” style, it captures the flow of the consciousness. The narrator reports what passes in the mind of the boy as he brings the largest ship, ever existed anywhere, to the village. He is telling again and again that he has been misunderstood and misjudged. He makes many attempts but fails to prove himself until the end when he is able to show the huge ocean liner to the people. He now is fully convinced and determined of his own power when he sees the ship. So he says, ‘Now they’re going to see who I am’.

Question: Narrate the story of a boy’s growth from an ordinary boy to an assertive young man.
Ans: The sight of the huge ship is only the symbol of the boy’s greater and greater maturity and the development of his state of mind. His encounter with the ghost ship is linked with his movement towards his maturity and will-power. When he sees a big ocean liner and informs the villagers about its arrival, they don’t believe him because they can’t see any ship there. Although he’s beaten, he’s so confident that he thinks one day he’ll definitely prove his merit and maturity.
The ship isn’t real. It is only the symbolic representation of the growth of an ordinary boy to an assertive young man. It presents the boy’s inner journey from his innocence to experience and from ignorance to knowledge. The experience and knowledge are inevitable to gain manhood. The ship that appears and vanishes several times stands for the child’s imagination and growing vision, which finally makes him a strong man with a strong voice and confidence. In fact, this story brings out the boy’s inner consciousness. The whole story is a psychological study which describes the boy’s gradual attainment towards maturity. Thus the story deals with the mental growth of the child in proportion with his physical growth. Both the growths combined make him confident about what he says and does.
Actually it is a story about the powerful imagination of the boy. Sometimes a person’s creative power becomes so sharp that he can see his vision in concrete form. A normal mind with limited power of creativity hardly sees such picture.

 

 

 

 

Sources

https://tyrocity.com/topic/the-last-voyage-of-the-ghost-ship/

https://dotnepal.com/the-last-voyage-of-the-ghost-ship/

https://thepronotes.com/the-last-voyage-of-the-ghost-ship-summary/

https://krishnarm.com.np/class-12/heritage-of-words/the-last-voyage-of-the-ghost-ship/