Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Sea-Wolf, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Self-Reliance and Maturation
Materialism vs. Idealism
Survival of the Fittest
Love, Duty, and Choice
Summary
Analysis
With good wind, Van Weyden and Maud Brewster are five days away from Japan, but if it storms hard, their small boat might not make it. Maud lets down her hair, then says that she wants to learn how to steer, since Van Weyden can’t keep steering forever without sleeping.
Van Weyden and Maud Brewster’s reliance on the wind reinforces how chance governs human life. Now that they have escaped the Ghost, Brewster and Van Weyden have their first opportunity to see what it’s like to be self-reliant.
Themes
Literary Devices
Van Weyden goes to sleep. When he wakes up seven hours later, he’s surprised to find that Maud Brewster has been steering the whole time. Soon, however, the wind begins to blow the wrong way, forcing them to drop anchor. Van Weyden fears that the changing winds may cause them to lose their bearings.
