Titanic: Voices From the Disaster
The Titanic Sinks! All is lost.
The protagonists in the book, Titanic: Voices From the Disaster, is Jack Phillips and Fifth Officer Harold Rowe. Jack Phillips is one of the protagonists because in the text it states, " Phillips had not stopped his frantic efforts to help get on the wireless. 'He was a brave man,' remembered Harold Bride" (Hopkinson, 132). Jack then went down with the ship because he was fighting to keep the lights on, but this shows that Phillips had extreme bravery to help the passengers. Fifth Officer Harold Lowe was the other Protagonist in the book because in the text it says, "Fifth Officer Harold Lowe had been busy organizing a rescue plan from the moment his boat touched the surface of the ocean. He began by transferring passengers from Lifeboat 14 into other lifeboats before going back with a near-empty boat to pick up survivors. Joseph Scarrott recalled how Lowe took charge of four other lifeboats, moving passengers to make room to rescue survivors from the water" (Hopkinson, 154). This is showing the leadership and courage Lowe had to go back and rescue the passengers in the water even when every other boat heard the cries for help and ignored them. These men were surly protagonists.
I would recommend the book, Titanic: Voices From the Disaster, because the first half of the book gave a description of the boat and where everything was located, while the second half of the book lead you into the the actual disaster and what happened with the ship. The story was mainly survivors talking about their experience on the ship. The voices and pictures showed the cheerful side and depressing side of the Titanic. Since this actually happened Deborah Hopkinson (the author) did a good job of adding pictures, quotes, and letters/messages so the reader had a better idea of it.
Important figures on the Titanic.
Charles Lightoller
Charles Lightoller was responsible for making sure the lifeboats were properly placed and filled.
Jack Phillips
Jack was brave enough to stay inside the ship to keep the lights on for all the passengers in the water. When the ship sunk he went down with it.
Fifth Officer Harold Lowe
Officer Lowe's lifeboat hit the water and immediately he started to think about the rescue. He went around moving people to different lifeboats and pulling others on board his boat.
The theme and the setting both advance the plot. The setting advances the plot because it says in the text, " 'but how penetratingly cold it had become! Little wisps of mist like tiny fairies wafted gently inboard from the sea and left my face clammy. I shivered,' said Violet" (Hopkinson, 56). This shows that the author is foreshadowing that later on there will be ice because it got so cold. The theme is, the events of the Titanic can be seen as a symbol of what happens through overconfidence. It advances the plot because, " Captain Smith was relying on his long experience. After all, he had crossed the Atlantic many times safely. He'd once told the New York Times: '. . . when anyone asks me how I can best describe my experience in nearly 40 years at sea, I merely say uneventful' " (Hopkinson, 62). This shows that Captain Smith was too confident and when they hit the iceburg he was shocked and stayed to the side more so than helping out.
First Class Lounge on the Titanic
First swimming pool on a cruise.
Event Information
Titanic Sinks!
The Titanic sinks four hours after striking the ice burg. It sinks around 2:20 a.m.
When?
Monday, Apr 15, 1912, 02:15 AM
Where?