The Young Man and The Sea

Philbrick, Rodman. The Young Man and the Sea. The Blue Sky Press, 2004: New York. 16.95. 191 pages.
Grade Level: 6-12

Main Character:
Little Skiff Beaman is a twelve-year old boy whose mother recently passed away and whose dad, Big Skiff, passes out regularly on the “TV couch” after drinking large quantities of beer. Skiff, his father and his neighbors are classified as Swampers— the socially powerless group of people that make their home near the creek and bare a resemblance to S.E. Hinton’s Greaser characters. Tyler Croft and the rest of the young male Spinneys (Socs) continually torment Skiff.

Plot: Skiff wants to raise a boat. The Mary Rose has sunk to the creek bottom and his fisherman father hasn’t stepped foot on a boat, or out of the house for that matter, since his mother died. With the help of the boat maker Mr. Woodwell, Skiff uses elementary physics and a couple of rusty barrels to get the Rose floating and then drags it up on shore. Mr. Woodwell planes to new cedar planks for the keel, Skiff screws in the planks and Captain Keelson “sets the cotton.”
Now, the frame of the Rose is seaworthy, but Mike the mechanic gives Skiff an estimate of 5,000 dollars for the repair of the saltwater-damaged engine. Skiff realizes he needs to make some money. He decides to start setting two hundred lobster traps in his ten-foot plywood skiff. It is hard work but he is making good money after about three weeks, but Tyler Croft decides to cut all of Skiff’s lines so he can’t find the traps on the bottom. Skiff catches Tyler in the act but it is just a Swamper’s word against Spinney’s. Skiff attempts to retrieve the lost traps by grappling hook, which turns out to be useless.
A novice fisherman who was fooling around and caught a monster tuna gave Skiff a new idea. Mr. Nagahachi, who exports tuna to the Japanese fish markets, bought the amateur angler’s tuna for over six thousand dollars. Skiff’s mind is set, that night he sets out to steal a harpoon and then takes his plywood boat and provisions (an extra tank of gas and three peanut butter sandwiches) thirty miles out to sea to find his own bluefin tuna.
The climax involves a bluefin tuna, Skiff and the sea—I don’t feel right telling anymore. In Skiff’s own words, mentioned in the first sentence of the book so I’m not giving anything away, the fish “almost kills [him] and then saves [his] life.”

Touchy Areas: None

Related Titles:
• The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway and the Movie
• Jim Davis: A High Sea Adventure by John Masefield
• A River Runs Through It by Norman MacLean and the Movie
• “The Open Boat” by Stephen Crane
• The Outsiders S.E. Hinton

Movies:
• War of the Buttons
• The Perfect Storm
• Hoosiers
• A Gentleman’s Game

Music:
• “If I had a Boat” Lyle Lovett
• “Mill Worker” James Taylor
• “Fishing In the Dark” Kentucky Head Hunters
• “The River,” “The Cowboy Song” Garth Brooks
• “Smoke on the Water” Deep Purple
• “Boston and St. John” Great Big Sea

Evaluation:
The Young Man and the Sea introduces a new generation to the quality of hope it takes to wait for a fish to rise. Angling epics, such as Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, which Philbrick obviously aimed to model, and MacLean’s A River Runs Through It, seek to create a metaphor for life within the action of fishing and Philbrick’s story is no different. Skiff’s quest to raise The Mary Rose and then to catch a Bluefin is a metaphor for Skiff’s journey to find a peaceful and happy life for him and his father after the death of his mother. As the classics mentioned above can attest, fishing is by definition a bittersweet metaphor for persevering through the dark and unknown moments of our lives with only hope to guide us. Philbrick maintains a true colloquial voice that keeps the reader engaged in Little Skiff’s plight. The social dynamic is touched on with craft through the Swampers and Spinneys. The highest grade I can give is to say that I will read The Young Man and the Sea again, and I will pass it on.