How we cite our quotes: (Section.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"Well," said the captain, ultimately, "I suppose we'll have to make a try for ourselves. If we stay out here too long, we'll none of us have strength left to swim after the boat swamps." (4.9)
This points back to one of the "Mortality" quotes, where the correspondent tries to force his muscles to work, but they just refuse to operate. The captain has no doubts of his crew's courage, but he also knows the longer they wait, the less their bodies will cooperate with their efforts to survive. This is like one of those marathons where the first two runners approach the finish line. One of them starts sprinting to the finish, and while the other one tries to keep up, he's got nothing left in the tank and falls further and further behind. The captain wants to make sure they sprint to the finish (so to speak) while their bodies can still respond. More than anything, it shows again how he never loses sight of their ultimate—and only—goal: survival.
Quote #5
"Wonder how long he can keep that up. He's been revolving his coat ever since he caught sight of us. He's an idiot. Why aren't they getting men to bring a boat out. A fishing boat—one of those big yawls—could come out here all right. Why don't he do something?" (4.75)
We find an interesting paradox in this line. The men look at the wild man on the beach swinging his coat around his head. On one hand, they're impressed that he can keep on swinging it for so long, but as he does this, they all agree that he should "do something," because what he's doing is so pointless and unhelpful. Does that seem important? Let's back up: the guy on the beach has a certain determination of his own, to keep swinging that coat, but the men on the boat, given their dire situation, don't have the luxury of participating in such frivolous actions. So the man is, to quote, "an idiot." The men in the boat, meanwhile, cannot be distracted from looking for ways to escape their predicament. If only the captain could shout commands to the beach as easily as to the other side of the boat.
Quote #6
In the meantime the oiler rowed, and then the correspondent rowed, and then the oiler rowed. Gray-faced and bowed forward, they mechanically, turn by turn, plied the leaden oars. The form of the light-house had vanished from the southern horizon, but finally a pale star appeared, just lifting from the sea. The streaked saffron in the west passed before the all-merging darkness, and the sea to the east was black. The land had vanished, and was expressed only by the low and drear thunder of the surf. (4.85)
This might be the moment where we're most impressed by their effort. Imagine if you were doing something really difficult and painful. Let's say someone asks you to stand on one foot and hold a watermelon above your head. If you do it for long enough, you'll get a hundred dollars. They don't tell you how long you'll have to do it, but they put the money on a table on the other side of the room. So let's say you do it for an hour, and suddenly the lights go out. You can't see the money any more. How much harder did it just get to hold up that watermelon? Okay, now imagine holding up that watermelon sitting in a tiny lifeboat rocking in the ocean in the middle of the night. No thanks, right? What we're trying to get at is how impressive these men's effort is. Things are looking pretty hopeless right now, but they persevere. The "pale star" is a nice touch, suggesting that they are, even in blackest night, kept in some cold company.