The story opens up with two men fighting. It talks about how they really are not fighting over anything. One choking the other and the narrator with his knife. He manages to cut the other man’s arm, just bad enough to get himself released from the chokehold. I believe this fight creates a theme that foreshadows what is to come in the story. The theme of men trying so hard for something without even having a purpose. As the narrator sets sail he finds a small ship, but overlooks it due to the waves being so high over it. He proceeds and finds the largest ship he has ever seen. One that is assumed in the story to be filled with riches and treasures. …show more content…
This is another instance of someone making an attempt at the impossible. The captain was told not to try to make it back to land but tried anyway. Would the ship have outlasted the hurricane had it chanced the waves and wind? Hemingway leaves it unknown by assuming the rudder of the ship was taken off and that it quite possibly wasn’t even being steered at the time of the wreck. Then after the ship lays lifeless in the quicksand. Steamers torn off, objects floating up among the waves, and birds flying up