Suggestions
Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.Please wait while we process your payment
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
Please wait while we process your payment
By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy.
Don’t have an account? Subscribe now
Create Your Account
Sign up for your FREE 7-day trial
Already have an account? Log in
Your Email
Choose Your Plan
Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan!
Purchasing SparkNotes PLUS for a group?
Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more!
Price
$24.99 $18.74 /subscription + tax
Subtotal $37.48 + tax
Save 25% on 2-49 accounts
Save 30% on 50-99 accounts
Want 100 or more? Contact us for a customized plan.
Your Plan
Payment Details
Payment Summary
SparkNotes Plus
You'll be billed after your free trial ends.
7-Day Free Trial
Not Applicable
Renews February 4, 2023 January 28, 2023
Discounts (applied to next billing)
DUE NOW
US $0.00
SNPLUSROCKS20 | 20% Discount
This is not a valid promo code.
Discount Code (one code per order)
SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Free trial is available to new customers only.
Choose Your Plan
Payment Details
Payment Summary
For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more!
You’ve successfully purchased a group discount. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. You'll also receive an email with the link.
Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership.
Thanks for creating a SparkNotes account! Continue to start your free trial.
Please wait while we process your payment
Your PLUS subscription has expired
Please wait while we process your payment
Please wait while we process your payment
“He kicked holes in the sand for the boy’s hips and shoulders where he would sleep and he sat holding him while he tousled his hair before the fire to dry it. All of this like some ancient anointing. So be it. Evoke the forms. Where you’ve nothing else construct ceremonies out of the air and breathe upon them.”
Upon arriving at the coast, the boy becomes ill and the man’s care for him takes on a religious aspect. He’s not sure what form of worship he’s following, since he’s making it up as he goes along, but it is definitely a worship of sorts of the boy’s life. He values the life of the boy above all else in the world. He will go to any length, and even adopt any faith, to save his son. This demonstrates the purity of his paternal instinct. Here the roles of father and son are clear. The father is meant to protect the son and nothing else. The complexity of their relationship is reduced to simple care. The man cannot stand to see the boy ill and cannot stand the thought of the boy dying before him, so he creates a religious ceremony to help the boy recover.
“You’re not the one who has to worry about everything.
The boy said something but he couldn’t understand him. What? he said.
He looked up, his wet and grimy face. Yes I am, he said. I am the one.”
After the father is extremely sick for a time, the boy makes this startling announcement. He claims he is the one who must worry, not the father. The boy has never before taken control of their journey. He has left everything up to the man. Now that the man is sick, the boy knows he must take over someday, and maybe someday soon. He admits this to the man in so many words, saying that he is the one who must worry, and not the man. This is the boy admitting his father will die, and it signals a great change in their relationship. The boy is taking up the mantle of leadership. He is becoming a man just like his father, and no longer a little boy who only follows. The complexity of their relationship has taken on a new aspect.
“He looked across the water to the country beyond.
What are we going to do Papa? he said.
Well what are we, said the boy.”
Just before the man’s death, after he has been sick for some time, he makes a slip up in his words. He calls his son “Papa.” While this could be merely the rambling of a feverish man, it takes on a strong symbolic resonance due to its placement in the story. The father has become the son, the one that needs taking care of, and the son has become the father, the leader of their expedition. Even if the son doesn’t recognize it, a change in their power dynamic has occurred. This must happen before the father dies, so that the boy can become the man the father is training him to be. The complexity of their relationship has reached its height in this quotation. The roles of father and son have been temporarily reversed. It is a reversal that will become permanent when the man finally dies.
Please wait while we process your payment