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Irony
Definition of Metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor can be stated explicitly, as... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other... read full definition
Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Primordial Vastness:
In Chapter 1, after the Martinez sinks, Humphrey is floating alone in the sea, surrounded by fog, water, and silence. He metaphorically compares the ocean and fog to “a gray primordial vastness:”
I could not swim a stroke. And I was alone, floating, apparently, in the midst of a gray primordial vastness. I confess that a madness seized me, that I shrieked aloud as the women had shrieked [aboard the Martinez], and beat the water with my numb hands.
Related Themes:
Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—The Hell-Ship:
Throughout the novel, London uses vivid imagery to draw parallels between the Ghost and hell, with Wolf Larsen being painted as the devil at its helm. The ship is referred to at several points as a “hell-ship;” it has a reputation for being led by a man who, by many people’s accounts, is cruel and ruthless enough to be the devil himself. Maud regularly refers to him as Lucifer, and Louis calls him “the great big beast mentioned […] in Revelation.”
In Chapter 3, London uses imagery appealing to the sense of sound when describing a burial of a sailor at sea, creating a hellish atmosphere by likening the crew to “hell-hounds:”
Unlock with LitCharts A+I had always conceived a burial at sea to be a very solemn and awe-inspiring event, but I was quickly disillusioned, by this burial at any rate. One of the hunters, a little dark-eyed man whom his mates called “Smoke,” was telling stories, liberally intersprinkled with oaths and obscenities; and every minute or so the group of hunters gave mouth to a laughter that sounded to me like a wolf-chorus or the barking of hell-hounds.
Chapter 6
Explanation and Analysis—A Floating World:
Throughout the novel, Humphrey metaphorically compares the Ghost to a “floating world” and a “miniature world.” For example, in Chapter 6, he says:
Unlock with LitCharts A+As [Johnson] told me, the Ghost is an eighty-ton schooner of a remarkably fine model. Her […] width is twenty-three feet, and her length a little over ninety feet […] I am giving all these details so that the size of this little floating world which holds twenty-two men can be appreciated. It is a very little world, a mote, a speck, and I marvel that men should dare to venture the sea on a contrivance so fragile.
Chapter 26
Explanation and Analysis—The Hell-Ship:
Throughout the novel, London uses vivid imagery to draw parallels between the Ghost and hell, with Wolf Larsen being painted as the devil at its helm. The ship is referred to at several points as a “hell-ship;” it has a reputation for being led by a man who, by many people’s accounts, is cruel and ruthless enough to be the devil himself. Maud regularly refers to him as Lucifer, and Louis calls him “the great big beast mentioned […] in Revelation.”
In Chapter 3, London uses imagery appealing to the sense of sound when describing a burial of a sailor at sea, creating a hellish atmosphere by likening the crew to “hell-hounds:”
Unlock with LitCharts A+I had always conceived a burial at sea to be a very solemn and awe-inspiring event, but I was quickly disillusioned, by this burial at any rate. One of the hunters, a little dark-eyed man whom his mates called “Smoke,” was telling stories, liberally intersprinkled with oaths and obscenities; and every minute or so the group of hunters gave mouth to a laughter that sounded to me like a wolf-chorus or the barking of hell-hounds.
