In the Heart of the Sea Themes
Visions of Nantucket
Nantucket is a tiny town with big ambitions. Stuck roughly twenty-six miles from the mainland of the United States, the town grows from an insignificant, isolated colony into the whaling capital of...
Society and Class
The owners of the whaleship Essex aren't concerned with silly notions like equality and fair pay—just look at how they exploit their employees in In the Heart of the Sea. African American sailors...
Man vs. the Natural World
Given that In the Heart of the Sea depicts the most brutal whale-hunters who've ever lived, this is one of those rare instances when "Man vs. the Natural World" can be taken literally. In the red c...
Greed
Scrooge McDuck would feel right at home in the city of Nantucket. Though devoutly Quaker, Nantucketers aren't going to let silly things like ethics or morality get in the way of the almighty dollar...
Violence
Though this might come as shocker, we're going to drop a bomb on y'all—hunting animals can get a little violent. And that goes double when the animal in question is a skyscraper-sized sperm whale...
Choices
Being an officer on a whaleship like the Essex requires fine-tuned decision-making skills. Unfortunately, that's one quality poor Captain Pollard lacks. Still, it's hard to place the blame solely o...
Fear
In the Heart of the Sea is not for the faint of heart. In this book, you'll witness the awesome power of furious sperm whales. You'll feel the pure terror of being stranded thousands of miles away...
Suffering
You thought the Titanic was a catastrophic tragedy? Just wait until you hear the story of the whaleship Essex. After the ship is attacked—and sunk—by a rogue whale, the surviving crew is forced...