Sea Devil Questions and Vocabulary
Vocabulary:
Sullen: bad tempered and sulky/gloomy.
Weltering: move in a turbulent manner.
Elemental: primary or basic.
Sinewy: consisting of resembling sinews.
Hoisted: raise something.
Phosphorescence: light emitted from a substance without combustion.
Cordage: Cords or ropes.
Exhilaration: a feeling of excitement or happiness.
Atavistic: relating to or characterized by reversion to something ancient or ancestral.
Centrifugal: moving or tending to move away from the center.
Gauntly: extremely thin or boney.
Impending: about to happen.
Tenaciously: a firm hold on something.
Respite: a short period of rest or relief from something difficult or unpleasant.
Equilibrium: a state which opposing forces are balanced.
Imminent: looming/about to happen.
Questions:
- He fishes at night because he liked the loneliness and the labor of that. This leads into the conflict with the ray because if it was morning when he got swept away by the ray someone would notice and try to help him. The significant thing about him not fishing for a living is that he genuinely likes to fish, especially at night.
- One example is when the man thought of the time when he let the baby porpoise go, which is part of what is going to happen to him. The second example is when he but the knot over his wrists which will become a problem for him later on. The final example, is when the man is going fishing at night and its mentioned that people aren’t out there at night on the bay.
- The initiating incident in the story is when he goes out at night and fishes by himself which will get him into trouble. The crisis is when he gets the Sea Devil in his net, which sets him on a wild chase. The climax is when the man finally manages to escape from the clutches of death, and he gets away from the Sea Devil or giant ray. The resolution is when the man releases the mullet he caught and when he decides not to fish at night alone ever again. I would say that the story has a happy ending as he doesn’t die after all at the end.
- Civilized is when everything is modern and safe and primitive is when everything is in nature and is survival of the fittest. The conflict between the ray and the man is a symbol of the civilized world against the unknown primitive world. The references made to the man’s wife, the causeway, and the plane were to show that the civilized world has many things that help overcome struggles. For example, the plane gets us around and the causeway with its lights hep with blocking darkness which is the primitive world. Finally, the mans wife shows the wonders of the civilized world as she Is warm happy and calm in the civilized world (the house). While the man is struggling out in the harsh primitive world.
- The man learns what it’s like to struggle all the time and what it’s like to have to fight to stay alive every second, this is all in the primitive world and he has never experienced the primitive world for what it truly is. The man always had the skiff which is from the civilized world to keep him safe. However, with the ray thrusting him in the truly primitive world he learns how hard it is to survive. This makes the man respect the mullet more an that’s why he lets the mullet go.
- “The night was black as a witch’s cat” this is a simile on pg. 34.” The stars looked fuzzy” this is a personification on pg. 34.” The lights of the causeway made a yellow necklace across sky” this is a metaphor on pg. 34. Those are three examples of figurative language in the story.