Nov 16 2009

Published by jjordan13 at 5:12 pm under Default

In Gabriel Garcia Marques’s short story “The Last Voyage of the Ghost Ship,” the magical realism of the protagonist’s childhood follows him into adulthood. The first line of the story begins a focus on the protagonist’s identity that will continue throughout: “Now they are going to see who I am.” The importance of his coming-of-age is brought out in the very next phrase, “he said to himself in his strong new man’s voice.” The reader learns that he seen the ghostly ocean liner every March for years, and he only ends the supernatural experience by uniting himself with it, placing “his will inside it” and directing it into undeniable contact with the reality he knows, the village (an instance of omnipotence of thought).

Though the story is told in the third person, it is told from the protagonist’s view, and the structure and descriptive language are characteristic of imagination. The entire work is a single sentence, like one long train of thought. In similar fashion, tangents intrude to give background about the protagonist’s mother and his surroundings. Fantastical descriptions like the “rotating light, who gloomy beams transfigured the village into a lunar encampment” and the noise that would have woken “the soundest-sleeping dragons in the prehistoric jungle” appear throughout.

The story deals with imagination made real, blurring the borders of fantasy and reality. The writing style and figurative language reinforce and reflect these themes. The story offers an unsettling commentary on our perception of reality – just because we’ve passed the period of life where daydreams and phantoms are expected doesn’t mean we can put them entirely behind us. Seeking to explain the inexplicable only seems to raise more questions and further uproot our grasp on reality.

3 responses so far




3 Responses to “”

  1.   # eclectricentropyon 18 Nov 2009 at 11:59 pm

    I enjoyed your take on the story. I wrote on this one as well but came at it from a totally different angle. I think its interesting that you credited the narrator as being reliable…I thought that the similarities in form and content to Browning’s work suggested that we may not be able to trust him.

  2.   # lbrown13on 20 Nov 2009 at 9:57 am

    I like that you brought in the unique phrases about the dragons and stuff like that. This is a magical realism piece, so it’s obvious that something like that would be said. You also make a good point about phrases like that reinforcing the themes of the story. You can’t describe something abnormal with normal words. Imagination deserves to be talked about in an imaginative way. Without these great phrases I think the story wouldn’t hold up quite as well as it does now, and it’s a great link between the structure and the content.

  3.   # tanvisoodon 22 Nov 2009 at 10:52 am

    I think your connections between structure and content are great. I also like how you begin your last paragraph- The story deals with imagination made real, blurring the borders of fantasy and reality. I agree with you that the elements are reinforced with the writing style. I think magic realism is the crux of this piece and you’ve dealt with that really well.
    “Seeking to explain the inexplicable only seems to raise more questions and further uproot our grasp on reality.”
    Connecting this to the entire gothic genre should be very interesting!

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