Two Years Before the Mast · Theme
Transformation and Identity
How Two Years Before the Mast develops Transformation and Identity.
Dana undergoes a profound personal transformation from a Harvard student to a seasoned sailor, grappling with the loss of his former identity and the acquisition of a new, rougher self shaped by the sea and its demands.
Where it surfaces
- I
The narrator undergoes a deliberate transformation from a Cambridge student to a sailor, changing his clothes and lifestyle, yet his inexperience is immediately apparent to the crew.
- VIII
The narrator's move to the forecastle marks a transformation from a 'mongrel' to a true sailor, learning the customs and identity of the crew.
- XI
The narrator's successful sending down of a royal yard marks a personal milestone in his development from a green hand to a competent sailor.
- XIX
The narrator's sudden transformation from sailor to beachcomber and hide curer, embracing a new, independent life.
- XXII
The narrator's decision to transfer to the Alert reflects his desire to gain practical seamanship and keep open the possibility of a life beyond the sea.
- Chapter XXIII
The narrator's deepening friendship with Tom Harris and learning of his remarkable mind and history contributes to the narrator's personal growth and understanding of seafaring life.
- XXVIII
The narrator contrasts his own life as a sailor with his college classmates' graduation, reflecting on how hardship and foreign lands reshape identity. George Marsh's hidden past also underscores themes of transformation.
- XXIX
The narrator reflects on his transformation from a landsman to a sailor, and the chapter explores the identity of the young midshipman, whose background and mental state raise questions about class and upbringing.
- XXXIII
The ship's transformation from a storm-tossed vessel to a well-ordered ship ready for port mirrors the narrator's own journey and changing perspective.
- XXXIV
The narrator's matter-of-fact reaction to his near-fatal fall reflects the sailor's hardened identity, where escapes are joked about rather than mourned.
- XXXVI
The crew discards their worn-out sea clothes and gear, symbolizing a transition from sailor to landsman.
- Twenty-Four Years After
The narrator contrasts the desolate, solitary San Francisco of 1835 with the bustling, illuminated city of 1859, and reflects on his own changed fortunes and identity.
