The Last Voyage of the Ghost Ship

Background

The Last Voyage of the Ghost Ship is a psychological  story written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. In the story, the writer depicts  growth of an ordinary boy (the narrator) to an assertive young man. The writer here wants to convey that one can not be great in life without courage, determination and action as envisaged .

Summary

A small boy has a sight of a ghost ship in the sea at night in the month of March. The ship is too  big and wonderful. It has no sound and light. It has been  moving without any control. The surprising thing  is that it disappears when there is light and  appears when there is no light. The boy is surprised with the ship but he thinks  he might be having a dream.

The boy sees the same ship in the next March and tells  his mother about it. She ddoesn’t believe him. She says that his mind is rotting away. As s she tries to confirm she sees nothing except some fish playing in the water. She becomes sad and worried about her son. One day, she brings  a chair and begins to see the sea sitting on it. She remembers  her dead husband and mourns for him. She becomes excited and dies. Other four women also die who us e the chair  so it is an accursed chair. Finally, the chair is thrown into the sea. The boy becomes orphan and he does n’t want to live with anyone’s mercy. As an orphan he lives on stealing fishas he has nothing to live on also because no villagers help him .

In the next March again he sees the same ship and  then he talks about  to the villagers. The villagers instead of trying to confirm regard him differently and think that he is grown mad . Then, he decides not to talk to anyone about it but  try himself to prove . In the next year, he sees the same ship and follows it rowing a boat. When the light of lighthouse falls upon it, it disappears and the boy is confused . He lits a lantern and sees the ship again. He rows  his boat near the ship and to his surprise, he  brings the ship under control. He finds nobody in the ship and brings  it at the harbor near his village. When the villagers in reality sees the ship controlled by him , they are surprised at seeing the ship larger than the village. Thus, the boy proves himself to be an assertive Youngman. He shows the villagers who he is.

Interpretation

 It means that if a person works hard to develop his career without losing patience,she/ he can certainly get success in her/his life. In the light of this message, the story describes the growth of an ordinary boy to an assertive young man. It presents the boy’s inner journey from the innocence to experience and then to manhood. The ship stands for the child’s imagination and his encounter with the ship many times indicates his growing vision which finally makes him a strong man with strong voice and confidence. In fact, this story brings out the child’s inner consciousness. The whole story is a psychological study which describes the boy’s attainment of maturity. Thus, the story deals with the mental growth of the child in proportion to his physical growth. Both the growth combined makes him confident about what he says and does. In this way, the story also implies in subtle manner that an individual needs to ignite inner self before doing any work and then he/she needs to determine to reach the zenith and dedicate efforts without losing confidence very mindfully. Success sooner or later is sure to drive home if  plunged into work without breaking heart.