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The Growth and Development of America
Themes and Colors
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.
Early in his life, Nat Bowditch learns two important lessons. The first comes from his older brother, Hab, who teaches him that “boys don’t blubber.” Hab leaned on this mantra throughout a long cold winter when he had outgrown his coat and the family couldn’t afford to replace it. The cold hurt, Hab explains, but he chose not to complain, facing his suffering with fortitude and courage. Later, Nat’s mother tells him to look up at the stars when he feels sad, lonely, or lost, because this can help a person shrink their troubles back down to earthly size. These lessons both suggest the importance of courage—facing and accepting the loss, suffering, and uncertainty of life with equanimity—in living a meaningful, happy life in the face of sometimes unimaginable loss and grief. As he grows up, Nat exemplifies courage and finds himself surrounded by other brave souls. Nat—and those around him—certainly need courage in an era and a place where death lurks seemingly everywhere. Numerous characters die at sea of illness and accident on a regular basis. On shore, Nat loses his favorite sister, Lizza, to a bad fall and his first wife, Elizabeth, to tuberculosis. Yet, when David, Nat’s sister Mary’s husband, dies, Mary tells Nat that, although their time together was too short, David made her unimaginably happy when he was alive. Likewise, while Nat mourns Elizabeth’s death, he doesn’t regret his marriage.
In contrast, the book shows how cowardice and hopelessness magnify rather than prevent suffering. Like Nat, Ben Meeker was pulled from school unwillingly and indentured; unlike Nat, however, Ben allowed this circumstance to “becalm” him and keep him stuck in an unhappy life full of complaint and frustration. Likewise, after the loss of his ship, Father runs away from the sea, only to discover that difficulty—the deaths of Mother and Granny, his ongoing financial instability—can find him, there too. With examples of both courage and hopelessness, the novel thus argues that courage is a valuable trait, and not just among boys. In a world where the worst can happen at any moment, everyone will face pain and suffering, but only those who can face their suffering with strength and bravery will truly thrive.
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Courage and Grief ThemeTracker
The ThemeTracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of Courage and Grief appears in each chapter of Carry On, Mr. Bowditch. Click or tap on any chapter to read its Summary & Analysis.
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Courage and Grief Quotes in Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
Below you will find the important quotes in Carry On, Mr. Bowditch related to the theme of Courage and Grief .
Chapter 4: “Boys Don’t Blubber”
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Nat remembered last winter when Hab had outgrown his coat. “Did you get cold last winter, Hab?”
“Plenty cold.”
Nat was puzzled. “But when the boys yelled at you, you always said, ‘I’m not cold. Only sissies need winter coats.’”
“Of course.” Hab frowned. “Boys don’t blubber. If something hurts, you say it doesn’t.” He looked up at the tall masts of the Freedom and grinned. “She’s a grand ship, isn’t she?”
Nat’s stomach felt hollow. What would it be like with Hab gone? But boys didn’t blubber. He bit his lips to steady them and squared his shoulders.
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She and Nat went out into the dark, moonless night, and walked down Turner’s Lane and out on the wharf. Mother helped Nat find the North Star, and told him how the Big Dipper swung around it, and how to tell time by the Dipper. Then she was silent, standing with her hand on Nat’s shoulder, looking up at the stars.
Boys don’t blubber. He must remember that. Finally, Nat said, “It’s all right about school, Mother. When times are better, I’ll get to go back.”
Mother did not answer. She was still gazing up at the sky. After a while she said, “I made up a sort of saying for myself, Nat. I will lift up my eyes unto the stars. Sometimes, if you look at the stars long enough, it helps. It shrinks your day-by-day troubles back down to size.” She smiled.
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Chapter 9: Anchor to Windward
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Elizabeth studied Nat gravely. “Funny to think you were young once, isn’t it? I suppose you seem older because of your brains. People say figures just run out of your ears. But I don’t see any.” Then, in a swift change of mood, she said, “Mary will be awfully happy here, won’t she? I mean—she knows how to be happy. Being happy takes a lot of practice, don’t you think?”
Lizza said, “Go tell David that, Elizabeth. He’ll love it.”
When Elizabeth had gone, Nat whistled softly. “How do you keep up with her?”
Lizza smiled. “She’s a dear child. But she does say the oddest things. Sometimes I think she must have been born knowing them. I tell her she has eyes in the back of her heart.”
Nat smiled. “And she says odd things? I think you’re quite a pair.”
Chapter 18: The Astrea to the Rescue
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“Good for you, Charlie,” Nat said, “you have that French accent, all right. You won’t miss them if they come prowling around, will you?”
Charlie smiled, and bent his head to wipe his wrist over one cheek. In the moonlight, Nat could see the youngster’s tearstained face. Poor tad, he was homesick.
“Charlie, I wonder if you could do something for me?”
“Aye, aye, sir!”
“I’m working on a problem in navigation. I’d like to explain it to you. If I can make you understand, I’ll know I’ve got it.”
“Aye, aye, sir! Anything to help!”
They walked the deck while Nat explained. Charlie was quick. He got the explanation much faster than grown men generally did.
“Thank you, Charlie. That’s helped.”
“Thank you, Mr. Bowditch, sir. You don’t know, but you’ve helped me, too!”
Chapter 21: “Sealing is Safer”
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Polly stopped smiling. “Aunt Mary, think of it this way; if a ship was aground off Salem Harbor—say on Rising States Ledge—or the Haste—every able-bodied man in Salem would be out there trying to save the crew, wouldn’t he?”
“Of course!”
“And the women wouldn’t try to stop them, would they? No matter how long and hard they worked? No matter if they were risking their lives?”
“No-o-o-o,” Mrs. Boardman admitted, “when a ship is in danger, men do everything they can.”
“Well, every ship is in danger, every time it sails,” Polly said. “But the more men know about navigation, the safer our ships will be, won’t they? Nat isn’t working to save just one ship. He’s working to make every ship safer every time it goes to sea. Every ship in America!” Polly was really warming to her idea. “Every ship in the world!”
Chapter 24: Man against the Fog
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[Polly] looked at Nat with glowing eyes. “It’s really you! Captain Bowditch, F.A.A. and A.M., I’m very proud of you!” She blinked back sudden tears. “Oh, Nat, it’s been so long!”
Nat’s arm tightened around her. Somewhere out of the past a voice whispered, “A long time to sail by ash breeze.”
“Was it awfully hard?” Polly asked.
“Not too bad, Nat told her. “Rough weather sometimes. But I’ll say this for it—I was never becalmed!”
