QUESTION 2: Part 1, The Adventurer

On page 30-31, we are introduced to a young, strongheaded Dampier. After the dispute with Whaley, Damper is said to have "roistered" for four months. Why do you think Dampier didn't search for other work on the island? What do you think of how Dampier handled the situation and finally got off the island?

I'm a little unsure of how old Dampier is at this point in the book, but while reading this section I got the strong impression that he was a very young and spoilt young man who basically expected to be given a position of importance and was very unwilling to do any kind of work that he considered beneath him. He seems to have expected to make "easy" money. He is desribed in these two pages as "tactless, self-important," "assertive, argumentative," "lofty," and "self-conceited." It sounds like he was only interested in having a good time. What little wages he earned "he spent most of it getting drunk with the doctor." I'm hoping that this book is a little like the typical "coming of age" story and that we will see Dampier mature into a more worthwhile and respectable person.

>2 loriephillips: Lorie - "Dampier mature into a more worthwhile and respectable person."

He matured into a scoundrely, thieving, murdering, plundering Pirate!

-TT

TheTortoise

I'm a little behind on my reading--using this weekend to catch up with part 2 on Saturday and Part 3 on Sunday -- I had virtually no time to read this week. However...

I'm sensing a sort of "Jekyll and Hyde" personality and I'm hoping the "Jekyll" scientist, explorer, and recorder of new and wondrous things will eventually become dominant! I did think he was very immature in his response to the job he was offered -- I was taught "If you can't get the job you love, learn to love the job you get--" My Dad had a strong sense of work ethic--and you "earned" the job you wanted by working at what was available. Dampier had a different view--he felt he was "entitled" to get the best. IMHO

i mentioned in the last part that Dampier was born to the Landed Gentry and, as such, felt entitled to whatever was on offer..his experiences in Jamaica gave him a taste of the Wild Life...and he ran with that ...becoming a scoundrely, thieving murderer in the process...but he was entitled...from here on, the story gets into Captain Jack Sparrow territory..minus the humor...be warned, mates...be warned!

I tend to agree with you, jdthloue. He did not want the work because he felt entitled. The buccaneer life was more exciting. Also, however, when he set out on the ship, he realized that what he had been promised others were set on depriving him of. Some wanted to turn him into an indentured servant and the partner in Jamaica refused to give him the position that the other partner promised him. So, although he is no shining example of maturity, he is also surrounded by scoundrels on all sides.
--BJ
Edited to fix typo.

>6 billiejean: billiejean

....and scoundrels beget scoundrels...it was a vicious cycle for a young man with an inquiring mind.and a sense of self-importance...a cutlass didn't hurt, either...unless you were the one being stuck...ouch, there! ;-p

I agree with you all, I also have the feeling that Dampier fiels entitled and doesn't want to work. Piracy looks easier and brings adventure instead of a boring life at plantage. And later on (I've finished the book) it becomes more and more clear what kind of adventurer Dampier is.