Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Perfect Storm, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Money and the Fishing Industry
Danger, Human Frailty, and Death
Family and Domestic Strife
Science and Technology
Summary
Analysis
In writing The Perfect Storm, Sebastian Junger wanted to create a piece of fact-based journalism. At the same time, he didn’t want to bury the narrative underneath excessive technical details or uncertain conjectures. Ultimately, because he couldn’t know for certain what happened aboard the Andrea Gail, he interviewed people who’d survived similar situations.
The Perfect Storm is a piece of journalistic nonfiction. Though Junger doesn’t explicitly name the fate of fishing boat Andrea Gail at this point—he will allow dramatic tension to build throughout the narrative—it’s clear from the beginning that the story will involve a fight for survival and, ultimately, loss of human life.
Themes
Because of Junger’s attempt to incorporate various kinds of sources into his research, it’s important to pay attention to the way different sources are attributed. Direct quotes were recorded in formal interviews; dialogue without quotation marks is based on the recollections of survivors; quotes in italics are from radio conversations or from published material.
Junger’s concern for source attribution demonstrates his concern for the factual nature of his narrative. He attempts to signal for the reader that some material might be more reliable or unbiased than others. When investigating events which some of the primary characters did not survive to relate, some degree of speculation is unavoidable.
Themes
By collecting a variety of material, Junger hopes to provide a sufficiently complete account of what’s ultimately an unknowable event. He also notes that by titling the book The Perfect Storm, he uses the word “perfect” in a meteorological sense, meaning no disrespect to the dead or their survivors. Junger’s fascination with this story began when he watched 30-foot ocean swells hitting Massachusetts’ Cape Ann. The next day, he read about a Gloucester boat that was believed to have been lost at sea. Without even realizing it, he had begun to research The Perfect Storm.
The colloquial phrase “the perfect storm” refers to a state of affairs in which various negative factors have collided. The use of the phrase in a meteorological sense—referring to a particularly violent storm--seems to date back at least to the 19th century. In the book, Junger implicitly uses the phrase in both senses, suggesting that the incentives and dangers of deep-sea fishing make it a “perfect storm” in itself.
Themes
