_Initial Stages_: Andy pins up the ship; his father blots it out;
Andy is delirious; acquires name of Wessel’s Andy.
_Steps toward the Dramatic Climax_: Andy drifts east; seeing a model
of the _Lucky Star_ in Stiles’s place, he asks for a job; he gets
it. He reveals that he has had “a ship behind his eyes,”--a schooner
like the _Lucky Star_, and his knowledge that he belongs on board.
This knowledge is attended by a fear: he does not know the cause for
which he must go. He indicates that something holds him back from
the sea, but refuses to disclose it. The immediate approach to the
dramatic climax is made in the story told, to the fisherman from
Gloucester, by old Jem Haskins. Andy learns the facts about Dan and
Hope Salisbury. Later, he asks whether there is a picture of Hope in
the village.
_Dramatic Climax_: Andy steals into Ed Salisbury’s house and finds
Hope’s picture.
_Steps toward the Climax of Action_: Andy is happy now (he knows why
he must go aboard the _Lucky Star_). He reveals the other vision
which has been, always, back of his eyes. Hope Salisbury has the face
of that vision. It is clear to him, now, that in going aboard the
vessel he will meet Hope. He knows that the time is near. Immediately
before the climax of action, Stiles walks down the beach. He sees a
mist, blotting the blue water as it comes. Turning homeward, he sees
Andy, on the edge of the beach, staring into the fog.
_Climax of Action_: As the surf closes over Andy, Stiles gathers
himself to jump. Then he sees the _Lucky Star_, and Hope. Andy goes
aboard....
Is the “inevitable” quality of the narrative increased by making Andy
“a queer one”? See Georgie, by way of contrast, in “The Brushwood Boy.”
Where does suspense first operate? Where do you suspect, first, that
Hope is meant to be Andy’s bride?
Observe that Andy’s last act might have been that of a deluded brain,
and that Stiles’s vision of the _Lucky Star_ might have been one of
hallucination. The more imaginative reader will regard the ghost-ship
as objective, and will “believe” in the delayed union of Hope and
Andrew.
Read Richard Middleton’s “The Ghost Ship,” for a frankly humorous
treatment of theme. What other stories in Mr. O’Brien’s collections
have an element of the supernatural?
Try presenting this story in pure English, from the author’s point
of view. Use the objective method, abstaining from entrance into the
mind of any character. Take up the narrative at the point of Andrew’s
arrival at Stiles’s, and let his “queerness” emerge through his acts
and speeches.
How much creative work must you accomplish to make a consistent
character of Stiles? (Here, Stiles, the narrator, must be studied
through the story he presents. In the dramatic presentation of the
story, he will become more objective.)