Critical analysis of the Titanic - Essay Example

? Critical analysis of the titanic The story of the Titanic has highlighted many issues amongst them being the issue of the class system, the privileges given to the elite over the minority, the insensitivity to peoples’ safety, too much faith in technology which fails eventually and survival for the comfort of the chosen few. The love across classes as well as the responsibilities that people are faced with in various situations (Eaton 2) Titanic was the biggest ship built and its captain was Edward Smith. Due to her large size it was believed to be unsinkable. On the 10th of April it began its voyage across the Atlantic having 2,200 passengers and crew on board. The ship was divided based on social classes whereby there was the first, second and third classes. The elite were on the first class section, the middle class people were in second class while the poor or low class people were in the third class section. Even though the ships’ captain had received fore-warning of icebergs along the route on which he was bent on using, he ignored these warnings and soldiered on regardless of the risk involved. The ship hit an iceberg and water started rushing in the ship. This only meant that the ship was going to sink eventually. There were few life boats that would only allow for 1/3rd of the people in the ship to be saved. The priority was thus given to the women and kids. This order was however not completely adhered to because some of the elite men from the first class ad second class defied this order and decided to use the life boats to save their own skin. The issue of class is greatly focused on because as we can see, even the forbidden love between Rose and Jack was across two classes on the extremes. Rose was from a wealthy family and jack was from a poor family. This explains why Rose was in the first class while Jack won a free 3rd class ticket while playing a game of cards. Roses’ mother was forcing Rose to marry Cal a wealthy man so as to maintain her social status. Rose as a character shows her demand for independence when she plans to take her own life instead of having to put up with her mothers’ demands to marry someone (Cal) she didn’t love for her mothers’ benefit (Tibballs 100). There is the issue of race. Most of the people who belonged to the third class did not understand English and hence they could not understand what to do; they thus failed to escape hence most lost their lives as they drowned along with the ship. In addition there is also the issue of culture where we see the people in the first class have a different culture with those of the third class. Those in the first class live in their own structured and strict world while those in the third class are care free they just live their life. There were many members of the wealthy American families on the titanic and following this most members of the Americans were all lost in the sea. Sir Cosine Gordon together with his followers/ staff all survived having escaped using life boats to save their lives (Eaton 30). This was against the order that stated that women and men were to be given first priority. Wealth not only brought privileges but also responsibility; a way of conduct. There was the sense of duty as men were expected to give a higher priority to women and children. They were to sacrifice their own lives for the sake of others. This conduct is naturally expected of a gentleman. The life boats were not enough to save all the peoples’ lives which was very tragic. The life boats were few because the owners wanted a bigger space for the first class walkway decks hence made the life boats removed to create more space. This was selfish and inhuman as that action sacrificed the safety of all passengers just for the comfort of a fortunate few. Based on the statics of the survivals, very few people from the third class section of the ship survived which brought about the question of the people from the upper class and their right to life of to survive. Various reproaches are made against humans an example is where people are seen to do only what they want to do and what they feel like doing. From the Christian perspective, humans disobey and ignore God’s commandments, expected values and they are seen to do or act as they please. They do not take life seriously and fail to see reality. From this point of view, no one is thus in a position to judge the actions of the other (Eaton 20). Most of these reproaches emphasis on the negative or evil side of human life which when critically analyzed might actual have some positivity in it. Paul answers these reproaches saying that for every action and truth; imply a given environment as well as a human subjectivity. He also talks of certain common cayings such as one must never fight against a superior force or interfere with matters that are above their jurisdiction. He claims that there is simply no human nature because there is no God to come up with a conception of human nature (Sartre 10). As a result, each man is exactly who they want to be and what he makes himself which is in other words referred to as human subjectivity. Man is meant to be who he wills to be. Willing and wishing is referred to as a conscious decision that has to be made. That implies that every human is responsible for who they are which I personally think is true. We make choices of how to go about our day to day lives. We make good and bad choices as well and we are each responsible for each of the choices we make. They affect how we live our lives. With regard to existentialism, as much as man chooses for himself he also chooses for all men. This is to mean that we choose to be and how we chose to act is a reflection of mankind. As a result, whichever choices we make on how to act and who to be we have to think of the bigger picture and put into consideration the image it portrays of mankind. That shows that man has a big responsibility of making the right choices for the good of majority. Here we see for example the decision made by the owners of the ship to remove most of the life boats so as to increase more space for the first class walkway decks. That choice endangered passenger’ lives which as we can see most people lost their lives following the sinking of the ship after hitting the iceberg. This goes to show that that the choices we make affect other peoples’ lives. The state of abandonment is also discussed and here it relates quite well with the situation Rose (from the novel Titanic) was faced with. She had to choose whether to defy her mothers’ orders to marry Cal for money or to go ahead and do as her mother wishes. If she did as her mother wished she will have shown respect and obedience towards her mother even though all that would have been to the expense of her happiness, peace of mind and life in general. On the other hand she could choose to defy her mothers’ orders and refuse to marry Cal a man she does not love. The story reflects various aspects of existentialist whereby most of the characters are expected to make choices and decisions in life. The emphasis is in certain characters in the novel displaying the importance of decisions, personal freedom and commitment. An example of where women and kids were to be given first priority on the life boats we find that men were responsible for ensuring that women and kids were all saved but as we can see some men could not adhere to this and they preferred to save their own lives at the expense of the women and kids. This was not the expected conduct of a gentleman. Another instance Jack is seen as a character who is very committed to what he does as portrayed in his artistic work. He is determined to love and save Rose from the forced marriage. He does not give up on her even after being locked away following the nude drawing he had made of Rose. His life is in danger when Cal chases his with a gun due to anger but this does not stop him from loving Rose unconditionally. Rose on the other hand has to make some decisions in her life. In one instance, she had a choice to decide whether to listen to her mother or not on the marriage issue. Yet we can see that she gives in to her mothers’ wish and agrees to carry on with the wedding plans even though she does not love Cal. She feels that she has been pushed too far and that there is no use in living a life where she has to marry someone she does not love so she decides to commit suicide. When Jack shows up to save her from jumping from the top deck, she falls in love with him and that’s when she actually goes against her mothers’ wish and leaves Cal for Jack. It was not easy for her but she didn’t weaver. These also bring about the issue of love across social classes. In conclusion, it is evident that some issues in Jean Paul Sartre's existentialism is Humanism are linked to the Titanic film as most of the characters are expected to make choices and decisions in life. The emphasis is in certain characters in the novel displaying the importance of decisions, personal freedom and commitment. Works Cited Sartre, Jean P. Existentialism and Humanism. Methuen, 1948, pp. 1-30. Print. Eaton, John. Titanic, Triumph and Tragedy. W. W. Norton & Company Incorporated, 1995, pp. 1- 200. Print. Tibballs, Geoff. The Titanic: the Extraordinary Story of the 'Unsinkable' Ship. Carlton, 1997, pp. 100. Print. Aidan, Lawes. Titanic: l4th-l5th April 1912, The Official Story. Public Record Office, 1997. Print. Read More