How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Though all my being agreed with him, my training – that it was wrong for a man of his low station to presume to advise me of anything – rose to the surface. I drew myself up. "Mr. Barlow," I said stiffly, "it's my father who has arranged it all." (2.46)
Charlotte judges Barlow based on his social status, rather than on the correctness of his advice. Weird, too, because she says she agrees with him! What is it about Charlotte's "training" that prevents her from trusting her own instincts?
Quote #2
In fact, the thought of tea was extraordinarily comforting, a reminder that the world I knew had not entirely vanished. (2.62)
A nice pot of tea sounds pretty good to us, but for Charlotte it has an even larger significance. Tea is a luxury item that symbolizes the society of manners from which she has come. Is it significant that it's offered to her by Zachariah? Also, though Charlotte associates tea with home, it's also a commodity that would have been shipped around on the very kind of vessel that she now finds herself.
Quote #3
Never had I met with such impertinence! That this Zachariah, my inferior, a cook, should tell such a slanderous tale of violence and cruelty regarding Captain Jaggery to me – as though it were a confidence – was deeply mortifying. I would not, could not believe it. (5.1)
Charlotte is "mortified" by Zachariah's presumptuousness in addressing her as an equal. But why is Charlotte so sure the Zachariah is her "inferior," though? Is it really just because he is a cook? What do his race, class, and age have to with Charlotte's reaction?
Quote #4
Every other place I'd seen aboard the Seahawk had a rough, crude look, with not the slightest hint of style or culture about them. The captain's cabin was a world apart. (5.5)
Charlotte is absolutely delighted with the refinement and taste evident in the captain's interior decorations. She assumes that expensive furnishings in his cabin mean that the captain is a good, genteel sort of person. But is he?
Quote #5
"I fear a crew such as mine has little liking for good taste or, alas, order. It offends them. But then, you and I – people of our class – we understand the better things of life, don't we?" (5.17)
Because of their shared class background, Captain Jaggery addresses Charlotte as an equal. She is part of his "we." But is this shared pronoun merely a strategy to ensure her loyalty? Does he really regard her as his equal? You might remember that he says something very similar to the men of the crew during the courtroom scene in Chapter 18.
Quote #6
Then and there – beneath the eyes of all the crew – he took up my hand, bowed over it, and touched his lips to my fingers. I fairly glowed with pride. Finally I followed – perhaps floated is a better word – after Mr. Hollybrass. (6.31)
While Charlotte adores Captain Jaggery's chivalry, these polite gestures keep her seeing him for the tyrant that he is. Is the captain's treatment of Charlotte based on the idea that he is her equal, or that he's her superior? Is chivalry based on the idea of equality or is it more about power?
Quote #7
Though I desired to make it clear that the crew and I were on different levels, I found myself spending more and more time in their company. In truth, I had endless questions to ask as to what this was and what was that. They in turn found in me a naive but eager recipient for their answers. (8.13)
Charlotte is always aware of the class barrier between her and the crew, but her natural curiosity causes her to break those boundaries little by little. Is Charlotte finally finding out how the other half live?
Quote #8
Gentlemen, do we not, as natural men, need to take heed? Is it not our duty, our obligation, to protect the natural order of the world? (18.159)
While he previously thought of them as scum, Captain Jaggery addresses the crew as gentlemen in the courtroom. He attempts to make the men feel that they are his equals so they will side with him in convicting Charlotte. How persuasive is the captain's rhetoric?
Quote #9
"Who shall be blamed for this disastrous voyage?" he asked. "It cannot be me, can it? No, it must be someone from the outside. The unnatural one. To preserve order, Miss Doyle, sacrifices must always be made. You."
"Am I a sacrifice?" I demanded. (21.29-21.30)
The captain declares that Charlotte "is the unnatural one," making her the ship's outcast. How will her sacrifice allow the ship's society to continue its orderly existence? Can you think of other literary works in which a character must be sacrificed for the betterment of society? (Pro tip: this is the basis for many literary tragedies.)
Quote #10
"Bridget, my name is not miss. It's Charlotte."
"I'll not be wanting to take the liberty, miss."
I turned to face her. "Even if I want you to?"
"I don't think the master would approve, miss."
"But if I asked you to..."
"Not wishing to be impertinent, miss," Bridget said in a barely audible voice, "but it's master who pays my wages."
I looked into her eyes. Bridget looked down. I felt a pain gather about my heart. (22.110-22.116)
Charlotte learns that, despite all that she has accomplished on the ship, her radical ideas about class probably won't be catching on in her father's house – or in his society – any time soon. After all, Bridget has to make a living, doesn't she? (Sigh. It's all about money.) Was the situation on the Seahawk a unique opportunity for equality? Why not America?