How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
What could I do? All my life I had been trained to obey, educated to accept. I could hardly change in a moment. "Please lead me," I mumbled, as near to fainting as one could be without actually succumbing. (2.19)
Charlotte allows herself to be led onto the ship, though she has serious reservations about whether or not she should make the journey. Why? Because she's been trained to obey authority, not to question it. The passage suggests that learning to think for herself is going to take some time for Charlotte.
Quote #2
If you will be kind enough to recollect that during my life I had never once – not for a moment – been without the support, the guidance, the protection of my elders, you will accept my words as being without exaggeration when I tell you that at that moment I was certain I had been placed in a coffin. My coffin. It's hardly to be wondered, then, that I burst into tears of vexation, crying with fear, rage, and humiliation. (2.51)
Charlotte is all by herself: cut off from her family, friends, and anyone who might be able to protect her. That she compares her cabin to a coffin suggests that she views this isolation as a kind of death – pretty dramatic. After death, though, comes rebirth, right? Let's hope so.
Quote #3
Now and again I would feel a rough-skinned but gentle hand beneath my head. I would open my eyes, and there was Zachariah's ancient black face close by, murmuring soft, comforting sounds, spooning warm gruel or tea into my mouth – I didn't know which – as if I were some baby. Indeed, I was a baby. (3.63)
Though Charlotte previously described her cabin as a coffin, it has become more like a womb over time. As Zachariah tends to her, Charlotte describes herself as a baby. What does this imagery suggest? What kind of transformation is taking place?
Quote #4
It was a great, wood-ribbed cavern I had come to, which – because Barlow's candlelight reached only so far – melted into blackness fore and aft. I recall being struck by the notion that I was – Jonah-like – in the belly of a whale. (6.55)
As she climbs down to the top cargo, Charlotte compares herself to a biblical figure, the prophet Jonah. In the Bible, Jonah is trapped in the belly of the whale for three days, but miraculously emerges in one piece. Jonah's story is one of resurrection. How is Charlotte's story like Jonah's? How is it unlike Jonah's?
Quote #5
"Captain Jaggery!" I cried out suddenly, as much surprised as anyone that I was doing so.
The captain, startled, turned to look at me.
"Please, sir," I pleaded. "You mustn't."
For a moment the captain said nothing. His face had become very white. "Why mustn't I?" he asked.
"It's... it's not... fair," I stammered. (11.43-11.47)
A major turning point for Charlotte happens when she witnesses Captain Jaggery brutally whip Zachariah. While she had previously struggled to determine what's right and what's wrong and what to do about all of it, here she finally decides that she must speak up. What is it that has caused this transformation in her behavior? What would you do?
Quote #6
He took another step toward me. I'd wedged myself against the outward rail. In a gesture of defense I pulled up my arm, and so doing flicked the whip through the air, inflicting a cut across the captain's face. (11.61)
Charlotte isn't only speaking her mind, but she's also taking action. In this scene, Charlotte goes from playing defense to offense. Whether she means to or not, by flicking Jaggery with the whip she totally turns the table on him. Now who has the power?
Quote #7
I stepped out of my cabin and crept through the steerage. It was dawn. To the distant east, I could see the thinnest edge of sun. All else remained dark. I moved to the galley, praying I would meet no one before I reached it. For once my prayers were answered. I was not noticed.
I paused at the doorway. "Mr. Fisk," I whispered.
He straightened up, turned, saw me. I had, at least, the satisfaction of his surprise.
"I've come," I managed to say, "to be one of the crew." (12.110-12.113)
At the end of Part I, Charlotte puts on her new clothes and steps out of her cabin to join the crew. The scene is set just as the sun is beginning to rise. Both Charlotte and the day are getting a new start. What does the imagery accomplish? Why connect Charlotte's transformation to events in the natural world?
Quote #8
"Miss Doyle," the captain said with barely suppressed fury. "What is the meaning of this?"
How could I explain to him? Besides, there were no words left within me. I had gone through too many transformations of mood and spirit within the last twenty-four hours. (14.2-14.3)
Charlotte must prove herself to the other sailors by climbing to the top of the highest sail and, by doing so, something in her changes. But what is it? And why? (Or to channel the captain, "What is the meaning of this?") Notice that even for Charlotte, the change is difficult to put into words. Why do you think she has such a hard time articulating what's suddenly happening to her?
Quote #9
My knowledge of physical labor had been all but nil, of course; hardly a wonder then that from the moment I joined the crew I was in pain. I ached as if my body had been racked. My skin turned pink, then red, then brown. The flesh upon my hands broke first into oozing, running sores, then metamorphosed into a new rough hide-all as promised. (14.25)
Charlotte is not only changing on the inside, but also on the outside. The process is super painful and her body is becoming very different physically. But even though it hurts, do you think Charlotte's metamorphosis is positive? Or, at least, does she see it that way? Does the novel seem to suggest that change sometimes has to hurt in order to occur?
Quote #10
Desperate, I wrapped my legs and one arm about the ropes. With one free arm I pulled my hair around, grasped it with the hand entwined in the ropes, and pulled it taut. I took the knife and hacked. With a shake of my head my thirteen year's growth of hair fell away. Feeling much lighter, I bit down onto the blade again and once more began to climb. (15.25)
Up in the rigging, Charlotte decides to give herself a little haircut. By doing so, she's choosing to value utility over appearance and display. (Long hair only makes her job more difficult. So why should she keep it?) But how has her hair been important to her in the past? How does the signification of her hair change over time?
Quote #11
Look at the way you acted! The way you've dressed! It doesn't matter that you are different, Miss Doyle. Don't flatter yourself. The difficulty is that your difference encourages them to question their places. And mine. The order of things. (21.22)
Captain Jaggery suggests that Charlotte's personal transformation might lead others to also question their places too. And his place. And the places of ALL things! Pretty crazy, right? Do you think our own personal choices can really cause larger social transformations like that? Is change contagious?