It opens with the undertaker, John Snow, aboard the cable ship Mackay-Bennett, off the Grand Banks, six hundred miles from Halifax, on Saturday April 20, 2012. John is lying down on the empty coffins to ease his queasy stomach. He prefers the dead to the sea, which is so unpredictable. He bids Captain Larnder good night. In the morning his work will begin.
In Prelude Preparing to Sail, the time between Monday April 1 to Tuesday April 9, 1912 is portrayed, introducing most of the twenty-five narrators beginning with the Rat who follows the food.
Bruce Ismay - The Business Man who conceived of building "three immense sister ships". They would palatial, attracting the world's most wealthy but also those seeking to flee the continent paying for a nice berth. But he doesn't want to focus on life boats, because having life boats on the boat deck - the sun deck as he calls it, would clutter the view of the sunsets at sea.
In Prelude Preparing to Sail, the time between Monday April 1 to Tuesday April 9, 1912 is portrayed, introducing most of the twenty-five narrators beginning with the Rat who follows the food.
Bruce Ismay - The Business Man who conceived of building "three immense sister ships". They would palatial, attracting the world's most wealthy but also those seeking to flee the continent paying for a nice berth. But he doesn't want to focus on life boats, because having life boats on the boat deck - the sun deck as he calls it, would clutter the view of the sunsets at sea.
E.J. Smith - the Captain who plans to go as fast and as straight as he can with Titanic. The ship is big, but he too is not concerned about the only twenty life boats on Titanic. After all, that's four more than required.
Thomas Andrews - The Ship builder. His uncle is the great Lord William Pirrie who is Ismay's associate and who also was involved with Titanic's conception. He learned his trade through a five-year apprenticeship and has overseen the Titanic.
The Iceberg - has seen the passage of time from Abraham and Noah through to the caveman's spear and the woolly mammoth's tusk. It was conceived within Greenland's glacial womb.
Olaus Abelseth - The Immigrant who writes Marie Stene in Norway, begging her to join him on Titanic. Eventually he manages to convince a group of Norwegians to join him including his cousin Peter, two neighbours and his brother-in-law, Sigurd.
Jamila Nicola-Yarred - The Refugee who is fleeing Lebanon along with her father and her brother Elias. They arrive in France only to learn that that ship they booked passage on, has already left. When they try to book on Titanic, her father is told he cannot go because of his infected eye, so he sends on Jamila and Elias to Cherbourg, where they will board Titanic.
John Jacob Astor - The Millionaire who along with his pregnant, young wife, Madeleine, her nurse and his servant are returning from their honeymoon in Egypt.
Margaret Brown - The Socialite. She is in Egypt along with the Astors, and her daughter Helen when she learns that her little grandson, Lawrence Jr. is ill in America. They are returning via the Titanic.
Harold Lowe - The Junior Officer. He is a natural seaman, at ease in rowboats or on large ships. But he knows that most of the "crew" are not much use in a crisis. He tested the life boats, but wonders what will happen if they actually need them.
Frankie Goldsmith - The Dragon Hunter is only nine years old. His brother Bertie died last year from diphtheria. He along with his mother and father and an older lad named Alfred Rush will be travelling to America on the Titanic. Their final destination is Detroit, Michigan.
Harold Bride - The Spark. He is the assistant telegraphic operator, Second to Jack Phillips. Harold is excited that Titanic is equipped with the "most powerful wireless system on the sea."
Charles Joughlin - The Baker. As chief baker, he boards the Titanic in Belfast so he can test the ovens and appliances.
Frederick Fleet - The Lookout. His job is "to watch and say what he sees." By his account, he's a born watcher.
Lolo - The Tailor's Son. This little boy has been taken away by his papa along with his little brother momon.
Louis Hoffman - The Tailor. His real name is Michel Navratil and he has taken (kidnapped) Lolo and Momon from their mother, Marcelle and her mother. He has used his friend's name to secure a place on Titanic.
George Brereton - The Gambler. He's a cardshark, a trickster who cheats people out at the card table, like the young, wealthy man he just cheated out of a lot of money. This will pay for his transportation to America and to his sister's place in Los Angeles.
With twenty-two of the voices now introduced, the readers meets the final three narrators in The First Watch Setting Out as Titanic travels from Southampton, England to Cherbourg, France on Wednesday, April 10, 1912.
Thomas Hart - The Stoker. After showing his papers, Thomas, or Tommy as he likes to be called learns that his berth is on F deck in the bow.
Oscar Woody - The Postman who tells the new man, Mr. March that the noise is from the racquet court next door.
Jock Hume - The Second Violin has a girl, Mary Costin back in Dumfries who will soon have his child and whom he will soon marry. But he has two lovely ladies with him, his violins, Eberle and Guadagnini. One of them will be "the voice of his soul".
With all the narrators now introduced, the fateful story of the Titanic is ready to be told through their voices in the remaining six watches: The Last Port, The Open Sea, Frivolous Amusements, Turning the Corner, Whiskers on the Light, and The Watch That Ends the Night. The aftermath of the sinking is told in Postlude: Morning.
Discussion
Alan Wolf's The Watch That Ends The Night is a uniquely crafted novel that tells the story of the Titanic tragedy in both rhyming and free verse, using twenty-three voices of those on Titanic plus two nonhuman narrators, The Rat and The Iceberg. Wolf uses real people from the tragedy - those who were on the passenger list - and successfully builds an engaging storyline for each through verse. These stories, when woven, together not only tell the larger story of the maiden voyage and the sinking of the Titanic, but also convey a sense of the magnitude of the tragedy on a personal level; the fathers never to be seen again, the lovers lost, the new life in America never to be realized.
The novel opens with a Prelude which tells of preparations to sail and sets the story for many of the characters and closes with a Postlude; Morning which tells of the aftermath of the sinking. The novel is divided into seven watches, the seventh being "The Watch That Ends the Night", which covers the time the survivors are in the boats and watch in horror, the sinking of the great ship, supposedly unsinkable.
The many voices include those of immigrants such as Jamila Nicola-Yarred and socialites such as John Jacob Astor and Margaret (Molly) Brown, Bruce Ismay, the director and head of the White Star Line; and Thomas Andrews, the chief naval architect at Harlan and Wolff ship builders. Also included are many different Titanic crew members including Captain E. J. Smith known as "the Storm King", a stoker, Junior Office Harold Lowe, wireless operator, Harold Bride; and Frederick Fleet, the lookout. Each voice offers the reader a different perspective on sailing the Titanic, on life in the early 20th century and on the tragedy. These many voices make the storytelling realistic and appealing.
Added to the human voices are those of the Iceberg and The Rat, who wanders the ship in search of food. The Iceberg is portrayed as a malevolent entity whose purpose is to meet with a ship - seeking out human hearts! We learn its history, from its birth in Greenland, its thousand year existence to its calving off the glacier and its ocean voyage southward.
Especially poignant is the voice of the undertaker, John Snow, who sailed on the cable ship, Mackay-Bennett, out of Halifax, Nova Scotia to collect the bodies of Titanic's victims. John Snow's poems capture the horror sailors experienced when they arrived at the site of the sinking.
Many of the poems use the element of foreshadowing mingled with irony, hinting at the coming tragedy. Wolf also uses concrete poetry with Thomas Andrews, Titanic's shipbuilder, to convey, typographically the sinking of the Titanic. Another poem, with its random words in the center of two pages, suggests the terror and confusion of people as they drown in the icy waters.
Alan Wolf includes detailed notes at the back of the book, on each of the voices/characters, all of which were real passengers on the ship, as well as an extensive Titanic bibliography.
The Watch That Ends The Night is brilliantly conceived, and succeeds beyond measure, in capturing the essence of the Titanic tragedy, one hundred years later, for avid teen readers and interested adult readers alike.
Book Details:
The Watch That Ends The Night by Alan Wolf
Candlewick Press: Massachusetts 2011
466 pp.
The many voices include those of immigrants such as Jamila Nicola-Yarred and socialites such as John Jacob Astor and Margaret (Molly) Brown, Bruce Ismay, the director and head of the White Star Line; and Thomas Andrews, the chief naval architect at Harlan and Wolff ship builders. Also included are many different Titanic crew members including Captain E. J. Smith known as "the Storm King", a stoker, Junior Office Harold Lowe, wireless operator, Harold Bride; and Frederick Fleet, the lookout. Each voice offers the reader a different perspective on sailing the Titanic, on life in the early 20th century and on the tragedy. These many voices make the storytelling realistic and appealing.
Added to the human voices are those of the Iceberg and The Rat, who wanders the ship in search of food. The Iceberg is portrayed as a malevolent entity whose purpose is to meet with a ship - seeking out human hearts! We learn its history, from its birth in Greenland, its thousand year existence to its calving off the glacier and its ocean voyage southward.
I am the ice. I see tides ebb and flow.
I've watched civilizations come and go,
give birth, destroy, restore, be gone, begin.
My blink of an eye is humankind's tortoise slow,
Today's now is tomorrow's way back when.....
I am the ice. I've seen the ebb and flow.
I watched as Abraham and Moses spoke.
I watched the prophets met with wine or stone.
I watched as Christ was nailed upon the cross.....
I am the ice. I've seen the ebb and flow.
Conceived by water, temperature, and time,
gestating within Greenland's glacial womb,
I carved out massive valleys as I moved.
At last the frozen river made its way
and calved me with a splash in Baffin Bay.
Since I've traveled southward many weeks,
for now that my emergence is complete,
there is a certain ship I long to meet.
Especially poignant is the voice of the undertaker, John Snow, who sailed on the cable ship, Mackay-Bennett, out of Halifax, Nova Scotia to collect the bodies of Titanic's victims. John Snow's poems capture the horror sailors experienced when they arrived at the site of the sinking.
I turn again to the far-off flock of gulls --
smudges of white floating on the green waves --
and I admit to myself what I knew at the first sight of them:
Those are no seagulls at all. Those are bodies.
More bodies. Each one waiting in a bright white vest.
My God. My God. My God.
Bodies scattered for miles, in every direction.
Bodies as far as my indifferent eyes can see.
Many of the poems use the element of foreshadowing mingled with irony, hinting at the coming tragedy. Wolf also uses concrete poetry with Thomas Andrews, Titanic's shipbuilder, to convey, typographically the sinking of the Titanic. Another poem, with its random words in the center of two pages, suggests the terror and confusion of people as they drown in the icy waters.
Alan Wolf includes detailed notes at the back of the book, on each of the voices/characters, all of which were real passengers on the ship, as well as an extensive Titanic bibliography.
The Watch That Ends The Night is brilliantly conceived, and succeeds beyond measure, in capturing the essence of the Titanic tragedy, one hundred years later, for avid teen readers and interested adult readers alike.
Book Details:
The Watch That Ends The Night by Alan Wolf
Candlewick Press: Massachusetts 2011
466 pp.
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