Iceberg

A symbolic motif in the story, icebergs foremost embody the danger that leads to the ship’s destruction. In addition, they thematically represent The Importance of Truth and Questions. When Hazel boards the Titanic, she aspires to write an important and engaging story about the experience of being on it. This goal leads her to question everything and learn as much as she can about the danger of icebergs to ships on the open sea. Mrs. Abelman guides Hazel to the library, finding her a book to learn about icebergs, and also teaches her about refraction and the way that icebergs can often hide from view due to naturally occurring visual illusions in the ocean environment. Hazel reflects on the arrogance of the people who designed the Titanic as well as its captain, wondering why they choose to prioritize luxury over safety. These same people see the Titanic as “unsinkable” and “claimed it would command the very tides of the ocean” (4).

Hazel is determined to find out how much danger she and the other passengers are in and learns that the Titanic is particularly vulnerable to icebergs. When the moment arrives and the Titanic approaches the iceberg that leads to its demise, the sight is both awe-inspiring and terrifying: “The nearer we came, the higher It rose above the deck, beautiful, yet still a frozen monster upon the water. As with all monsters, the most frightening of all was not what could be seen, but what was not seen. Its claws lay hidden below us” (258). For the first time since being on board, Hazel can barely speak. Because the Titanic received warnings all day about icebergs, and because the ship’s designer failed to include important safety features, tragedy, which could easily have been avoided, strikes.

The time period in which the story (based on historical events) takes place is the 1910s, and the era acts as a motif in the novel that helps express the themes of Friendship and Overcoming Class Divisions as well as Sacrifice, Hope, and Living for Others, which was a major aspect of early 1900s life. Hazel and more than 2,000 others board the infamous Titanic to travel to the US; many hope to start a new life, but others, like Hazel, go out of necessity. Ships like the Titanic were a key mode of transportation in the early 1900s, bringing the world together, and immigration took place primarily via this method. Hazel is on her way to work in a garment factory with the goal of sending money back home to her family, but she dreads that as a female worker, a garment-factory job is one of very few options for her. In her dream to become a journalist, she’s ahead of her time and knows that she’ll have to work harder than most to achieve her goals.

In the early 1900s, the divisions between classes were stark and based on the desire to segregate the rest of society from the wealthy. Hazel’s experiences aboard the Titanic speak to these divisions and the way that they led to not only moral degradation and humiliation but also the loss of hundreds of lives when people were trapped on the lower decks. Part of the reason for the Titanic’s demise was the failure of the ship’s captain to heed warnings sent by morse code and humans’ strong desire to prove themselves mightier than nature. Hazel and her friends recognize these shortcomings and sacrifice their own safety to help one another, and only because of this do they survive.