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Chapter 1: The Good-Luck Spell
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Hard Work, Perseverance, and Success
Safety and Responsibility
Risk and Reward
The Growth and Development of America
Courage and Grief
Summary
Analysis
Three days later, when the weather improves, Nat hears a drum and fife through the open window. Father explains that the noise lets people know that a privateer ship wants crewmen. Privateers are pirates licensed by the government. The colonies are in the midst of the Revolutionary War, and the privateers have been charged with attacking British ships. Father decides to head down to the wharf to watch the action, and Granny sends Nat with him. She’s worried because Father has developed a bit of a drinking habit since he lost his ship, and she sends Nat along to make sure that Father comes back in a timely manner.
Much of Nat’s young life coincides with the American Revolutionary War and its aftermath, as the country sought to gain independence and then an identity for itself as a new country. The privateers, although private citizens, form an important part of the war effort by distracting the British navy and—when things go well—depriving the British and their North American supporters of necessary goods and supplies.
Themes
On the walk, Nat fingers his silver shilling and asks Father what he’d do if he had extra money. Father says he’d invest it in a privateer’s expectation. People can pay a privateer some money up front before a voyage, and when he returns, the privateer will give them a share of any bounty he earns from captured ships. Many sailors recognize Father, who used to be a captain himself. After losing his ship, he became a cooper—a person who makes barrels. Despite the comparative safety of the work, he misses being at sea.
The privateers’ expectations illustrate an important facet of the American psyche: a willingness to embrace even great risks for potentially greater rewards; though the privateer might be killed, captured, or unsuccessful, thus generating no dividends for his investors, this risk is worth the chance of securing the riches from a seized British ship. But Father can’t invest money he doesn’t have. Following a tragic shipwreck, he’s turned his back on the sea, unable to summon the courage to take the kinds of risks the privateers do. And although he faces fewer physical risks as a cooper, financial risk remains. Father’s fear prevents him from fulfilling his duties.
Themes
Father places Nat on a sailor’s trunk, then disappears into the crowd, promising to return soon. After a few minutes, the sailor who owns the trunk reappears. Tom Perry, a sailor on the Pilgrim, is a huge, gray-haired man with a kind, tobacco-stained smile. Nat looks up at the big man and says he’s buying expectations, since he recently came into more money than he’s ever had before. Tom retrieves his final expectation with a flourish from his hat, and Nat proudly smacks the shilling into his hand. Tom stares at the meager amount and asks who Nat is. Nat answers he comes from a long line of sea captains. Tom knows Father and remembers the day his ship sank—the same day the war began. He hands over the expectation receipt to Nat, making him promise to keep it a secret.
Although falling asleep and missing his spell makes Nat think that he’s stuck in his family’s bad luck, Tom Perry’s kindness—accepting a pittance for his expectation—begins to change it. The kindness that Perry shows the little boy illustrates the role of responsibility within communities of all sizes, from families up to the town itself. And Perry helps Nat out, he suggests, due to his respect for Father’s old reputation. Salem sailors all understand the dangers of a life at sea, and they often band together to take care of those whom the sea has harmed.
Themes
Nat sits on the chest as Tom ambles away. He buzzes with the thrill of his secret as he waits for Father, and when they get home, he tells Lizza the news immediately. They go inside to ask Father how long it takes for a privateer to return from his voyage. Father answers it may be a few months, a year, or more. From the corner Granny adds, “and maybe never.” This makes Nat worry a little, although he doesn’t let Lizza see it.
Although Father made the purchase of an expectation sound simple and sure, Nat and Lizza learn—to their dismay—about the risks of Nat’s speculation. Great rewards require equally great risks—that’s what makes them worthwhile. Nat continues to protect his sister from his worry, but both children face the future with courage, knowing that they cannot change the outcome of Perry’s voyage, only wait for it to appear.
Themes
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