57 pages • 1 hour read
Alfred LansingEndurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage
Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 1959A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
The Endurance
The eponymous ship survived a number of attacks by heavy pack ice in the Weddell Sea prior to succumbing to the pressure. Shackleton had purchased the ship from a Norwegian whaling magnate who had commissioned it for polar bear hunting expeditions to the Arctic. While it was well built, the Endurance was not designed to withstand the almost supernatural power of the ice, which crushed it slowly over a number of weeks. Nevertheless, the fact that it survived so long makes it a symbol of The Will to Survive. Its name contributes substantially to the effect, as the word “endurance” describes the determination that Shackleton and the men exhibited when faced with the prospect of evacuating the sinking ship and surviving under some of the most arduous circumstances imaginable.
The Endurance is also notable for the crew’s reactions to its loss. The crewmembers almost anthropomorphized the ship in their diary entries, describing “animal-like screams” emerging from the ship as it fought back against the crushing ice. Their sense of the ship as a living entity underscores the symbolic connection between the ship and the men, but it also highlights its practical centrality to their lives: It was their only home for months and provided some shelter from the elements, making its loss all the more devastating.
The Polar Ice
At different times, ice floes both decimated and saved the crew of the Endurance, making them a symbol of The Danger and Majesty of Nature. On the one hand, the floes crushed the sides of their ship and ultimately caused it to sink. Conversely, the men were saved over the next several months by setting up camps on the floes and by relying on them for drinking water. However, the ice never ceased to be a threat, as the ice packs were unpredictable both in the direction of their movement and their stability. On several occasions, large cracks developed in the floes and caused the crew to immediately relocate. The warming seas created a particularly treacherous situation, as sections started to break off the floes at random. They thus embody the duality of Antarctica itself.
The Polar Night
Crewmembers reacted in different manners to the six-month-long absence of light they endured. Shackleton was particularly aware of the impact the absence of light could have on morale and attempted to design entertainment for the men to combat this. The motif thus highlights the unfamiliar and uncompromising Antarctic environment.
The Sled Dogs
Shackleton bought the expedition’s dogs in Canada. While the dogs became attached to their handlers and were fiercely loyal to them, the older dogs tended to attack one another during the early part of the voyage. The men also became attached to the animals, but when food stores became scarce, Shackleton ordered the incremental execution of the sled teams. Eventually, the corpses of the dead dogs were dressed and cooked as food for the crew—an indication of how far the men would go in order to survive.
