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 the winter of 1896, on the dangerous fishing grounds known as Georges Bank, the crew of a fishing boat discovered a message in a bottle. The note was from the crew of the Falcon, a Gloucester boat that had been lost the year before. The note said that the Falcon’s cable and rudder had been destroyed in a storm and that the crew had given up. The writer of the note had then tossed the bottle overboard, probably figuring it would never be found.
Junger’s use of this historical anecdote anticipates some of the ideas that will be explored throughout the book—especially the deadly nature of fishing, which pits fragile human beings against the unpredictable forces of ocean and weather. The century-old story of the Falcon hints that the men of the Andrea Gail will face a similar fate.
Themes
