The Rough

Crossing
BY F. SCOTT FITZGERALD
F. Scott Fitzgerald
 Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born in 1896 and lived to the age of 44.
He is an American short story writer and is best known for his novels
depicting life in the US in the 1920s during the ‘Jazz Age’.
 He fell in love and married Zelda Sayre.
 His first novel This Side of Paradise was published in
1920 and was a success.
 In 1921, the Fitzgeralds had a daughter, Frances,
and in 1922 he published his second novel,
The Beautiful and Damned which also sold well.
 In 1924, Fitzgerald moved to France and wrote The Great Gatsby, which
was published in 1925. It is considered to be his finest work and portrays
the Jazz Age.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
 During the late 20s, Fitzgerald’s
drinking became worse.
 In 1930, Zelda suffered her first
mental breakdown and was later
diagnosed with schizophrenia.
 She died in 1948.
 In 1937, he met Sheilah Graham
and lived with her till his death.
 He died of a heart attack at the
age of 44.
Context
Transatlantic crossings
 The story ‘The Rough Crossing’ was published in 1929 during the
golden age of ocean liners.
 In the story five liners are mentioned: RMS Majestic, RMS Aquitania, SS
Vestris, RMS Mauretania and the Peter I Eunid.
 If civilians wanted to cross the Atlantic in the 1920s, they would use a
liner.
 Ocean liners were indisputably the
dominant form of travel to cross
between the old and new continents.
 Nowadays, liners are practically
obsolete with the RMS Queen
Mary II as the only ship still in service as an ocean liner.
The Class System on ships
 Ocean liners had a tourist class system in place.
 Travellers could pay to travel in first, second and third class.
 As an example, the most famous ocean liner, the Titanic, had three
separate classes:
• First class consisted of the wealthiest passengers on board such
as the upper class, businessmen, politicians, entertainers and
socialites.
• Second class was made up of middle class
travellers such as professors, authors,
clergymen, and tourists.
• The third class or steerage passengers
were emigrants moving to the United States.
 The Class System on ships
 The tourist class system is still in place aboard the only
ocean liner today, and across cruise ships.
 Nowadays, a transatlantic crossing on the Queen Mary
2 in a cabin with a view of the inside of the ship, from
Southampton to New York will cost in the region of
€1300 and last seven nights.
 Should you opt to become a Queens Grill guest, you
would enjoy the largest suites on board which
command the most spectacular views.
 You would have access to the exclusive Grills
lounge, private deck and restaurant.
 A butler is included in the price. Prices hover
around the €10,000 mark.
The Titanic Class System
The story outline
 Adrian Smith and his wife, Eva, leave New York with a sense of relief and
escape.
 There are suggestions of their attempt to recapture a happier time in the
past and resolutions on their part on “what a good time we’ll have, and
how we’ll be much better and happier…”
 “It was in the hope that there was some secret of graceful living, some
real compensation for the lost, careless confidence of twenty-one, that
they were going to spend a year in France.” (p. 89).
 Before the boat is out of the harbour, however Eva is aware, embracing
her husband, that in their attempt to renew their intimate search for
happiness together, “the moment of utter isolation has passed almost
before it had begun” (p. 82). Trying to recapture your youth or the
glamour of a new marriage is not the solution to a lasting relationship.
The story outline
 A mature man who briefly but intensely becomes attracted to a girl
much younger – the characters in this story being the thirty-one-
year-old playwright Adrian Smith and Betsy D’Amido, “not more than
eighteen” (p. 82).
 The girl is the magical object that seems to have the capability for
restoring this attitude and she is presented, as usual, as a kind of
enchantress whose beauty casts the sheen of the ideal.
 “The fine crystal gloss over her”(p. 82), suggests the superficiality and
possible deceptiveness of her allure; imagery of gleaming radiance
describes the fascination that she holds for Adrian. “Again he was
fascinated by her loveliness; there was no mist over the brilliant gloss
that gleamed through the smoky confusion of the room” (p. 84 ).
The story outline
 As Eva’s jealousy of Adrian’s flirtation with Betsy D’Amido,
by now popular enough among the passengers to be
recognized as “the pretty girl of the voyage, the
cynosure of starved ship’s eyes” (p. 88), increases, she
begins to feel that Adrian is lost to her now.
 “The long seven-year dream was broken” (p. 95). Seeing
the dream, the world of glamour, begin to disintegrate,
she attempts to renew the spell by recourse to magical
behaviour in thought and action.
 (Eva imagines she is swaying in a tree-top and she
attempts atonement by throwing her necklace in the
sea to placate the gods.
The story outline
 As her marriage appears to move close to disintegration, Eva has an
increasing feeling of unreality.
 She tries several ways of combating this feeling. Though she is
unaccustomed to immoderate drinking, she resorts to alcohol, a
common recourse in Fitzgerald, as a means of altering her
perceptions. By the time she reaches the point where it no longer
serves that purpose adequately, she becomes subject to primitive
notions of magic and is led to an evaluation of her situation that
seems to require the recognition of the necessity of a personal
sacrifice and a willingness to perform it in order to preserve the order.
 Hence, in the midst of the hurricane, which provides an effective
metaphoric setting to reflect the tumult Eva is experiencing within, she
is shown in a ritual involving the necklace given her only the previous
week by Adrian as a birthday present.
Character Analysis
Adrian Smith
 A famous playwright who has been married to Eva for seven
years.
 He has been on previous cruises on board the ships the
Majestic and the Aquitania.
 He is thirty-one years old.
 During the cruise on the Peter I. Eudin, he becomes amorously
interested in eighteen-year- old Elizabeth D’Amido.
 He whiles away his time on the ship playing games and
partying with the younger passengers trying to recapture his
youth.
 As the storm reaches hurricane force, he saves his wife from
being swept off the ship by a wave.
Character Analysis: Eva Smith
 She is twenty-six years old, married to Adrian and has two
children.
 She is described as ‘something precious to everyone who
knew her’, which makes one wonder why Adrian decides
to betray her by kissing Betsy.
 While on board, she suffers from sea sickness and is genuinely moved
by the death of the cabin steward, the one who
was slumped in her personal cabin.
 She becomes jealous of Adrian’s attention towards
Elizabeth and in turn accepts the advances of
Mr Butterworth.
 She demands a divorce and while on her way to the wireless room
to contact her lawyer, she is swept off her feet by a rogue wave.
Character analysis: Adrian and Eva
 Adrian Smith is a playwright. He is presented as a celebrity, however,
the tone of voice is highly sarcastic.
 The narrator seems to be mocking Adrian when he describes him as
“not a very great celebrity” (p. 80).
 Even the photographer who was given Adrian’s name “wasn’t sure
what his subject did” (p. 80).
 Adrian is 31 years old and in married to Eva who is five years younger
than him.
 They are upper middle-class. They used to live at Park Avenue (one of
the best locations in New York). They also employ a full time nanny.
 They are ecstatic to be leaving the US for France. They regard their
journey as the beginning of a new life, an opportunity to ‘escape’ from
their past mistakes, and turn over a new leaf.
Character analysis: Adrian and Eva
 Adrian feels guilty for kissing Betsy.
 At the same time, he feels alive and excited - “His blood was beating
through him in wild tumult as he walked on the bar.” (p. 91).
 He erroneously thinks that Eva scarcely seemed to notice him or to know
that he had been gone.
 In reality, she had been constantly thinking about him even when
Butterworth was paying her a compliment.
 There seems to be lack of communication between these two. They discuss
pleasant things, like their plans for their new life in France but seem to avoid
unpleasant matters.
 At the beginning of the story, Eva declares that she had promised herself
that they would not quarrel about silly things and that she would not tell him
mean things – these are unrealistic promises she made as couples quarrel
about silly things all the time.
Character analysis: Adrian and Eva
 What Adrian and Eva really dread, is what all of Fitzgerald’s romantic
dreamers dread most, the realization of the irrevocable loss of the
freshest, fairest part of life, youth.
 Both wish to be able to control their lives through their own will so the
inevitability of what had just happened to them makes them
conclude that their experience of the storm and nearly being washed
overboard was merely “an incredibly awful nightmare” (p. 102) and
that not they but “two other people” (p. 102) were involved.
 It is clear, of course, that they are half joking, but the precariousness
of their world is clearly illustrated.
 The story ends with Eva’s foreboding remark, spoken with a shiver,
“The boat is still rocking for me…” (p. 101).
Differences between Adrian and Eva
 While Adrian love the adulation (admiration) of those around him, Eva is at first
more secure in her attraction to others.
 This shows Adrian’s insecurity and his confidence comes from those around him.
Perhaps this is why he was so quick to ‘fall in love’ with Betsy who is so willing to
show her attraction to him despite how much sought-after by the other men she is.
 On the other hand, Eva has always been admired and her self-confidence comes
from the talents she knows she has. She does not need to be admired to feel
secure in herself and her worth.
 Eva’s main wish is to be with her husband and to feel secure in their marriage. This
is why she wants to be alone with him all the time. It also reveals why she was so
hurt when Adrian removed his attention to Betsy.
 Eva’s jealousy of Betsy leads her to turn to Butterworth for attention, simply to spite
her husband and show him how attractive other men find her too. Her flirtation is
only in reaction to her husband’s flirtation.
 This is also why she decides to take the drastic action of wiring for a divorce.
 Ironically this over-reaction is what saves their marriage.
Character Analysis: Miss Elizabeth
D’Amido
 She is also known as Betsy and is described as not being
more than eighteen years old.
 She was a ‘dark little beauty with fine crystal gloss over
her’.
 Adrian thinks he has seen her before and tries to
remember where. When Eva remarks that Betsy is
“pretty” (p. 82), he agrees. (Eva’s remark shows that she
immediately perceives Betsy as a threat). She wants to
spend time alone with her husband, ‘to draw him back
into their privacy’. Eva insists “let’s not get to know
anybody but just stay together” (p. 82).
Character Analysis:
Miss Elizabeth D’Amido
 By the end of the story, however, Miss D’Amido is
now described as “a pale and wan girl” (p. 102).
At the beginning, (p. 82) she was “a dark little
beauty with the fine crystal gloss over her.”
 She is afraid that her fiancé would not recognise
her as she was feeling sick.
 She leaves “out of their life” (p. 102).
Character Analysis
Butterworth

 Heis interested in Eva and describes her as his idea of

a Greek goddess. He is described as being flat nosed
(perhaps reminiscent of a pug/dog?)
 Eva enjoys drinking alcohol in his company.
 Eva is flattered by Butterworth’s compliments but
they do not long distract her from thinking about
Adrian.
Themes:
Class systems
 Eva is horrified to find the steward lying on her bed. “You go and lie
down in your own quarters” (p. 86). This highlights social class
difference. Eva feels no sympathy for the sick man. She thinks that a
member of the crew is her social inferior and should have never made
use of her cabin. She even blames him for her own sea sickness, and
wishes he would die.
 However, the next day, when she is on deck, she prefers the sailors
painting the life boat stanchions, as like her, they probably wished that
the voyage was over. Previously, she had looked down on the working
class people. Now she feels close to the sailors and criticizes the upper
class passengers.
 When Butterworth informs her that the steward who had been sick in
her cabin was undergoing surgery (appendicitis) Eva feels guilty.
Themes:
Social Class
 Betsy and Eva have something in common.
 They both look down on the members of the crew.
 Betsy had borrowed “a red pea-jacket”(p. 92) and a
pair of trousers from the elevator boy (for the dress
party).
 She is worried about the elevator boy having fleas,
and has worn clothes underneath here costume as a
precaution.
Themes: social relationships, personal identity,
real life vs the glamorous world, lost youth
 The ominous hints of disaster that threatens to destroy the characters’
imaginatively perceived world (the world of glamour), the social
relationships that operate within it (particularly marriage), and
ultimately even the individual’s sense of personal identity and reality
appear thematically in the “The Rough Crossing”.
 As in Fitzgerald’s other stories that use these motifs, here it seems to
dramatize the desire and need of the hero to recapture some
attitude of confidence and promise remembered from his own youth.
 “The Rough Crossing,” thus focusing upon the voyage itself as a
rhetorical representation of the transient interval that yet contains vast
implications for the lives of these characters.
Themes: The search for novelty
 Eva remembers that on their honeymoon she and Adrian had played
together in the finals and won a prize. Once more, the beginning of their
marriage is described as idyllic because everything has been a novelty.
The present is dreary and they are in search of a new adventure which
would perhaps make them happy again.
 There is a sense of ‘claustrophobia’ on the ship. They had enjoyed the
beginning of the cruise but now the activities are boring and they want it
to be over.
 Could this be a reflection of Adrian’s and Eva’s marriage? They had
enjoyed the beginning – the novelty of being married. They decided to
leave the US for France looking for a new beginning. Was it because their
marriage was becoming stale?
 Is Adrian attracted to Betsy’s ‘loveliness” because she represents the
novelty which had been missing from his life?
Themes: Youth
 The diction used to describe the three young men and two young
women emphasizes the difference between them and the Smiths.
 Their youth is emphasized when they are described as “three boys and
two girls”(p. 85). They are loud in their actions and movements – “
draining of glasses” “calling of waiters” and “shuffling of chairs”(p. 85).
 Just like children they are “eager” (trusting) to join the Smiths.
 On the other hand, the narrator refers to the Smith’s “diffidence” (p. 85) -
they do not trust these young people, especially Eva who does not relish
their intrusion.
 What Eva really dreads, is what all of Fitzgerald romantic dreamers dread
most, the realization of the irrevocable loss of the freshest, fairest part of
life, youth.
Use of negative diction and
personification
Negative diction is used to describe the scene in
every stateroom:
 Walking from one part of the ship to the other
“had become a rough matter” “trunks were
lashed to the washstands” “ill and wretched
upon their beds” “a stout gentleman had been
hurled backward”
 This negative diction is used to highlight the
violence of the storm.
 Personification – “The ship roared and
complained”
Themes
The Hurricane and the Ship
The story is an allegory: the ship represents Adrian and Eva’s
marriage, and the hurricane force storm becomes the trials and
tribulations facing the married couple.
As the storm gains in intensity, so do the problems facing Eva and
Adrian. Eva finds solace in Butterworth’s companionship.
Adrian, instead, pours his affections
in the lap and on the lips of Betsy.

Yet, as an ocean liner is made of

robust material able to withstand the
Atlantic and the lashing storms, so
too should a marriage be. If the
union has a solid foundation, it will
come out intact.
 Intent on asking for a divorce, Eva goes to the
wireless room to send a telegraph.
 She has had enough of their marriage.
 Their relationship is saved when the gigantic,
glittering white wave hits the wireless room,
and nearly throws Eva overboard and to
certain death, but who luckily washes in the
arms of Adrian, who holds onto her.
 The wave has metaphorically washed away
the quarrelling.
 Adrian embracing Eva is symbolical of the pair
holding on to their union.
 The ship comes out of the storm battered but in
one piece; so too does their marriage.
Pathetic fallacy
 Eva goes on deck. It is “dark and drenched” (p. 95) like
Eva’s mood. “The ship pounded through valleys” (p. 95).
This ship is compared to Adrian’s and Eva’s marriage as
they are experiencing “a storm”. The waves are “black
mountains of water” – the problems they are facing in
their marriage. Eva wants to “atone” for her past
mistakes. She thinks that this is the only way she can
“propitiate” (p. 95) (appease) the storm.
 The following morning the storm has become
a hurricane (p. 95). Just as the storm has
worsened, Adrian and Eva’s misunderstanding
and marriage problems worsen.
The symbolism of the storm:
 The storm which hits the ship symbolizes the Smith’s marital
discord. Instead of confronting their problems, they deliberately
choose to evade them. Eva refuses to have unpleasant
discussions, while Adrian seeks novel pursuits, seeking new and
novel pleasures – besotted by Betsy’s flattery.
 Everything seems lost when Eva announces that she wants a
divorce and wants to contact her lawyer. The storm had now
become a “hurricane” (p. 95) – passengers have been injured.
Some have died. Is this a premonition of their marriage?
 It is however, the same storm which saves the marriage, at least
temporarily. Adrian saves Eva’s life. At the end of Part III, they are
still joined by his fierce grip.
 Themes:
Class Difference and wealth
• Being wealthy is a double-edged sword with regard to
the Smiths’ marriage.
• Being rich, they can dedicate time to each other. For
instance they bring a nurse on board the ship to take
care of their children. This means that they have ample
time to enjoy their cruise across the Atlantic.

• Eva was given a seed pearl necklace as a birthday gift,

and in a moment of atonement, throws it into the sea.
• She can actually afford to do so.
• Someone in third class would not dream of throwing out
such a valuable piece of jewellery.
 Themes: Class Difference and wealth
• On the other hand, the upper classes
completely disregarded the lower classes.
• Eva’s distraught demeanour arises because of
her class.
• She is horrified that a lowly steward is using her
cabin.
• That is not his place, and prophetically she says
to her husband ‘I wish he’d die’.
• When Carton actually dies, that is why she feels
guilt.
• Carton’s role may be to highlight the class
discrepancies rampant in the 1920s.
Try thinking about and discussing the following questions:
Characters
 Both Adrian and Eva are guilty of being selfish and ignoring the feelings and
needs of other people. Think of examples from the story. Which of the two
characters do you think is the most selfish?
 Eva talks about the storm driving her crazy. Think of examples of her behaviour
that could be described as ‘mad’. What other factors apart from the storm,
influence her behaviour?
 Why was Adrian attracted to Betsy? How did she make him feel? What does
this tell us about Adrian? Do you think Betsy was really in love with Adrian?
Why?
 Why did Eva enjoy Butterworth’s company so much? What did he represent
for her?
 Do you think any of the characters grow or change during the story or do they
simply return to their normal lives as if nothing has happened?
Characters are revealed to us in various
ways
 Description - The author often provides an introductory pen-portrait and then
builds up our knowledge with details as the narrative proceeds. (ex. Third
paragraph of story)
 Dialogue – other characters often give important clues when they discuss the
characters concerned. We may also find a lot about someone from his or her own
speech.
 Thoughts and feelings – ‘The inner life’ of a character can be revealed
directly, particularly in a first-person dialogue.
 Actions and Reactions – How characters behave in various situations will
inform our view of them.
 Imagery and symbols – Characters may be described using simile and
metaphors, or may be associated symbolically with, for example a colour or an
element
Try thinking about and discussing the following
questions:
Narration
 Who tells the story? Is this a 1 st person or 3rd person
point of view?
 Are the main events described in chronological
order? Is there any reference to events or situations
before the story?
 Who comments on the story and the journey at the
beginning of the story? Who comments at the end?
 What does the story tell us about journeys and
people’s behaviour on journeys?
Essay title:
 Discuss how the weather/elements and
its/their effect on the ship and the
characters are used to reflect and
emphasise the situations and emotions of
the characters in ‘The Rough Crossing’.
Discuss how the weather/elements and its/their effect on the
boat and the characters are used to reflect and emphasise the
situations and emotions of the characters in ‘The Rough Crossing’.

Introduction:
 ‘The Rough Crossing’ is a short story where the two main
characters, Adrian Smith and his wife Eva, are on a
voyage on a cruise liner for a week; they are crossing the
Atlantic. The weather while they are on the ship
deteriorates drastically as they move into a hurricane
and this deterioration of the weather is directly reflected
in the relationship of the Smiths.
Discuss how the weather/elements and its/their effect on the boat and the
characters are used to reflect and emphasise the situations and emotions
of the characters in ‘The Rough Crossing’.

Body:
 Go through the story and show how as the story progresses we
get a good description of the weather and how it is deteriorating
 At the end of the first section of the story, the last thing the writer
tells us is that the ship is going to be encountering a hurricane and
moving into it. This prepares the reader for something bad that is
going to happen on board
 Every time the weather is mentioned as getting worse, something
similar happens to the Smiths and their relationship.
 Now give examples of this.
 Discuss how the weather/elements and its/their effect on the boat and the
characters are used to reflect and emphasise the situations and emotions
of the characters in ‘The Rough Crossing’.

The following is the last paragraph of the first section:

 On a northern parallel of latitude a hurricane was forming and moving
south by southeast preceded by a strong west wind. On its course it was
destined to swamp the Peter I. Eudin of Amsterdam, with a crew of sixty-
six, to break a boom on the largest boat in the world, and to bring grief
and want to the wives of several hundred seamen. This liner, leaving
New York Sunday evening, would enter the zone of the storm Tuesday,
and of the hurricane late Wednesday night.
 This paragraph is a foreshadowing of what is going to happen to the
Smith’s relationship: it prepares the reader for what to expect.
Discuss how the weather/elements and its/their effect on the boat and the
characters are used to reflect and emphasise the situations and emotions
of the characters in ‘The Rough Crossing’.

 The following slides are all the references to the storm

and the ship.
 You now have to match them to what was going on in
the Smith’s relationship.
 Of course you do not have to use all of these but only
the most important ones.
 You can also group several of the references together.
Discuss how the weather/elements and its/their effect on the boat and the
characters are used to reflect and emphasise the situations and emotions
of the characters in ‘The Rough Crossing’.

 Half an hour later when she rose to go and see the children, she was
content that the episode was over. It was colder on deck, with a damp
that was almost rain, and there was a perceptible motion.
 This happens right after Adrian met Miss D’Amido in the smoking rood.
 A steady pitch, toss, roll had begun in earnest and she felt no sympathy
for the steward, but only wanted to get him out as quick as possible. It
was outrageous for a member of the crew to be seasick. When the
stewardess came in Eva tried to explain this, but now her own head was
whirring, and throwing herself on the bed, she covered her eyes.
 This is after Eva left Adrian alone with Ms D’Amido to go see her children
and found the sick steward in her cabin. Eva is starting to feel quite sick.
Discuss how the weather/elements and its/their effect on the boat and the
characters are used to reflect and emphasise the situations and emotions
of the characters in ‘The Rough Crossing’.

 she wanted to hear his voice, to have it drown out the complaining
sound of the beams.
 But Adrian never frowned in this regretful way unless he felt a little
guilty. He stumbled about, getting his dinner clothes out of the trunk,
and she shut her eyes.
 When a particular violent lurch startled her awake again he was
dressed and tying his tie. He looked healthy and fresh, and his eyes
were bright.
 hat solicitous frown--when she knew he was crazy to be out and
away from the close cabin. She was glad when the door closed.
The thing to do was to sleep, sleep.
 Up--down--sideways. Hey there, not so far! Pull her round the corner
there! Now roll her, right--left--Crea-eak! Wrench! Swoop!
Discuss how the weather/elements and its/their effect on the boat and the
characters are used to reflect and emphasise the situations and emotions
of the characters in ‘The Rough Crossing’.

 The day passed darkly, with fewer people around and a wet sky
falling. Suddenly it was five o'clock, and they were all in the bar
again, and Mr Butterworth was telling her about his past. She took a
good deal of champagne, but she was seasick dimly through it, as if
the illness was her soul trying to struggle up through some thickening
incrustation of abnormal life.
 When Adrian and Betsy D'Amido, soaked with spray, opened the
door with difficulty against the driving wind and came into the now -
covered security of the promenade deck, they stopped and turned
toward each other.
 'Well?' she said. But he only stood with his back to the rail, looking at
her, afraid to speak. She was silent, too, because she wanted him to
be first; so for a moment nothing happened. Then she made a step
towards him, and he took her in his arms and kissed her forehead.
Discuss how the weather/elements and its/their effect on the boat and the
characters are used to reflect and emphasise the situations and emotions
of the characters in ‘The Rough Crossing’.

 Adrian was ready first--he never wore fancy dress.

'I'll go on up. Don't be long.'
'Wait for me, please; it's rocking so.'
He sat down on a bed, concealing his impatience.
'You don't mind waiting, do you? I don't want to parade up there all alone.'
She was taking a tuck in an oriental costume rented from the barber.
'Ships make people feel crazy,' she said. 'I think they're awful.'
'Yes,' he muttered absently.
'When it gets very bad I pretend I'm in the top of a tree, rocking to and fro. But
finally I get pretending everything, and finally I have to pretend I'm sane when
I know I'm not.'
 Discuss how the weather/elements and its/their effect on the boat and the
characters are used to reflect and emphasise the situations and emotions
of the characters in ‘The Rough Crossing’.

 The gale was rising hour by hour and the mere traversing of a passage had
become a rough matter. In every stateroom trunks were lashed to the
washstands, and the Vestris disaster was being reviewed in detail by nervous
ladies, tossing, ill and wretched, upon their beds. In the smoking-room a stout
gentleman had been hurled backward and suffered a badly cut head; and
now the lighter chairs and tables were stacked and roped against the wall.
 The gala dinner, overhung sardonically with lanterns and streamers, was
interrupted by great communal slides across the room, precipitate retirements
and spilled wine, while the ship roared and complained that under the panoply
of a palace it was a ship after all. Upstairs afterward a dozen couples tried to
dance, shuffling and galloping here and there in a crazy fandango, thrust
around fantastically by a will alien to their own. In view of the condition of
tortured hundreds below, there grew to be something indecent about it like a
revel in a house of mourning, and presently there was an egress of the ever-
dwindling survivors towards the bar.
 Discuss how the weather/elements and its/their effect on the boat and the
characters are used to reflect and emphasise the situations and emotions
of the characters in ‘The Rough Crossing’.

 Adrian was lost. The long seven-year dream was broken. Probably she was
punished for something she had done; as this thought occurred to her the
shrieking timbers overhead began to mutter that she had guessed at last. This
was for the selfishness to her mother, who hadn't wanted her to marry Adrian;
for all the sins and omissions of her life. She stood up, saying she must go out
and get some air.
 The deck was dark and drenched with wind and rain. The ship pounded
through valleys, fleeing from black mountains of water that roared towards it.
Looking out at the night, Eva saw that there was no chance for them unless
she could make atonement, propitiate the storm. It was Adrian's love that was
demanded of her. Deliberately she unclasped her pearl necklace, lifted it to
her lips--for she knew that with it went the freshest, fairest part of her life--and
flung it out into the gale.
Discuss how the weather/elements and its/their effect on the boat and the
characters are used to reflect and emphasise the situations and emotions
of the characters in ‘The Rough Crossing’.

 They were in the midst of the wildest hurricane on the North Atlantic in ten years;
there were two broken arms this morning from attempts to take baths. An elderly
lady had been thrown down a staircase and was not expected to live. Furthermore,
they had received the SOS signal from several boats this morning.
 'Will we go to help them?'
 'They're all behind us, sir, so we have to leave them to the Mauretania. If we tried to
turn in this sea the portholes would be smashed.'
 With a sudden prescience of disaster he ran upstairs, glanced in the bar, the salons,
even knocked at Butterworth's door. Then a quick round of the decks, feeling his
way through the black spray and rain. A sailor stopped him at a network of ropes.
 'Orders are no one goes by, sir. A wave has gone over the wireless room.'
Discuss how the weather/elements and its/their effect on the boat and the
characters are used to reflect and emphasise the situations and emotions
of the characters in ‘The Rough Crossing’.
 The sailor ran up to the boat deck; stumbling and slipping, Adrian followed. As he cleared
the protected sides of the companionway, a tremendous body struck the boat a staggering
blow and, as she keeled over to an angle of forty-five degrees, he was thrown in a helpless
roll down the drenched deck, to bring up dizzy and bruised against a stanchion.
 'Eva!' he called. His voice was soundless in the black storm. Against the faint light of the
wireless-room window he saw the sailor making his way forward.
 'Eva!'
 The wind blew him like a sail up against a lifeboat. Then there was another shuddering crash,
and high over his head, over the very boat, he saw a gigantic, glittering white wave, and in
the split second that it balanced there he became conscious of Eva, standing beside a
ventilator twenty feet away. Pushing out from the stanchion, he lunged desperately toward
her, just as the wave broke with a smashing roar. For a moment the rushing water was five
feet deep, sweeping with enormous force towards the side, and then a human body was
washed against him, and frantically he clutched it and was swept with it back towards the
rail. He felt his body bump against it, but desperately he held on to his burden; then, as the
ship rocked slowly back, the two of them, still joined by his fierce grip, were rolled out
exhausted on the wet planks. For a moment he knew no more.
Discuss how the weather/elements and its/their effect on the boat and the
characters are used to reflect and emphasise the situations and emotions
of the characters in ‘The Rough Crossing’.

Conclusion:
 In the conclusion you simply return to the
introduction
 You can summarise what you have said: it is
clear that Fitzgerald wanted the ship
Essay title:
 Discuss how the weather/elements and
its/their effect on the boat and the
characters are used to reflect and
emphasise the situations and emotions of
the characters in both ‘The Rough
Crossing’ and ‘The Voyage’.
Essay title (from past paper)
Compare ways in which
relationships are portrayed in
‘Mother’s Help’ and ‘The Rough
Crossing’