Star of the Sea Commentary

The passage from Star of the Sea was written by Joseph OConnor. It is a
piece of narrative prose which takes place on a passenger ship. The
passage is written in a third-person subjective narrative mode. The
extract takes place at a point in the storyline as the ship is passing
through a violent storm at sea, which portrays the forces of nature

The passage starts with a sense of an atmosphere, The music of the

ship was howling around him. This sentences is very filled with visual
and auditory imagery. The opening sentence creates a feeling of a fast-
paced rhythm in its brief expression. The pace reflects the craziness of
flooding rain and surging sea.

The metaphor of the ships music howling brings an auditory

imagery which symbolizes the storm, which overwhelms the singular
pronoun him just as the storm overwhelms the Star of the Sea. As well
Nature overwhelms the Man. The low whistling; the tortured rumbles;
the wheezy sputters of breeze flowing through it gives a sharp feeling
with its short phrases, which gives the sentence certain rhythm. The
repetition of similar vowels (whistling, wheezy, breeze) creates a
hollow sound that are similar to that of a gust of wind at sea.

All of a sudden there is a quickness and urgency that is showed in the

use of the present progressive tense: Rolling. Foaming. Rushing.
Surging. The repetition of the ending ing and the similarly short,
onomatopoeic verbs create the image of rapid increase and decrease.
The sounds of these words recreate the loud surges of rushing water.
The waves begin to grow and this can be seen by the increasing amount
of consonants (thicken, swell, strength), and now it is a
battlement almost crumpling against its own weight, the metaphor of
the sea as a battlement compares it to the structure of defense. It is
like the water is waging war against the boatand almost overcoming
itself in its own power. The metaphors of war become more common as
the comparison of the Star of the Sea to a war horse, bucking in
retaliation to the seas attack upon the boat. The crash of the waters
upon the frail passenger boat is compared, through simile (Like a
punch thrown by an invisible god). The invisible god represents the
way of Nature. Nature is like God, when it leaves Man awe struck when
the Man is engulfed.

The people of the boat feel the strength when Nature strikes the boat;
He was aware of being flung backwards, into the edge of a bench, the
dull crack of metal against the base of his spine. The onomatopoeic
expressions flung and crack created by auditory imagery the
intensity at which he is thrown, the harsh consonants reflect the
brutality of the descriptive noise of his spine hitting the metal of the
bench.

The ship is very noisy. The ship itself makes a sound just like the waves.
The voice of the ship reminds me of someone screaming for help. The
ship creaked violently and then when the ship went into defensive
strategy in a weak attempt to combat nature, pitched into a tilt,
downing slowly. In this defense mode the ship almost overthrew its
own passengers, which suggests to a previous image of the bucking
horse knocking over its rider.

A commotion takes place on board which creates a chaotic image of fear

and panic, by the highly emotive description clamor of terrified
screams, a hail of cups and splintering plates, a starboard [lifeboat]
snapped and swung loose like a mace, shattering through the wall of
the wheelhouse, all the adjectives gave a incredible amount of
consonants which mirror the loud chaos aboard the ship and illustrating
how violently the Man-made objects are able to be destroyed. The visual
imagery of the hail of cups, the splintering plates and the lifeboat as
a mace, a weapon of battle which has now turned on its own creator,
symbolizes, and how vulnerable Man is compared to the wrath of
Nature.

The consonants become more shrill with the next words when the boat
squeals a shredding skreek as it begins to correct itself from leaning
over to one side.

A sense of helplessness and desperation is brought through the

portrayal of the lady screaming in terror, grasping, clutching. The
words grasping and clutching are used in an horrifying way because
the woman is literally grasping and clutching to pull herself back
onto the deck of the boat, and also she is grasping and clutching for
life. Her life depends on it because beyond the edge of the boar lies the
sea, life or death.

Dixon who I believe is the pronoun he is a passenger who is gripping

the slimy life-rope, literally he is holding on to a slippery rope which
also depends on his life.

Almost abruptly there is a change in the atmosphere to a feeling of

eeriness. The ordered calmness beneath the top deck, Two stewards
were in the passageway distributing canisters of soup. Passengers were
to retire to their rooms and stay there.

In conclusion, the passage from Star of the Sea, written by Joseph

OConnor, is a dramatic, evocative piece of narrative prose taking place
aboard a passenger ship when a ship goes through a powerful storm.