Found+Boat

Group names- Mike D, Morgan M, Natalie D

Summary: Five kids around the age of ten go swimming at a lake. The two girls find a boat in disrepair and the five of them decide to fix it. Once fixed, they travel down the river and stop to have lunch at an abandoned train station and choose to play truth or dare. The dares get more adventurous and result in all of the participants taking off their clothing and returning to the lake. Two of them, Eva and Clayton, end up looking at each other while waist-deep in the lake. Clayton decides to spit water at Eva's breasts which causes him to hoot in excitement. In the resulting awkwardness, the boys run off, leaving the girls at the lake. The girls fear what will happen if the boys repeat the story and decide to call the tale a lie.

Analysis:

In The Found Boat, the boat represents an outlet for the kids' independence and sexual energy, making the story one of new-found freedom and coming of age.

The boat also gives the kids a chance to show their independence. The kids repair an unusable boat with no adult assistance; this is certainly no easy task. Eva is able to heat up tar for the boat without any adult assistance, though Clayton's mother assumes she will need some. The boat voyage is also entirely run by the kids--Eva and Carol provide food and the boys bring the boat without any mention of an adult helping or even giving permission. In fact, the only adult in the story is Clayton's mother. The conspicuous lack of parental involvement seems to suggest that the children are becoming more independent and mature (perhaps more so than the parents realize), and the boat gives them an opportunity to show it.

The boat also gives the children a chance to release their suppressed sexual energy. The children obviously realize that taking off their clothes is forbidden--the first reaction to Frank's dare is a scream. Yet the children obviously show some openness to the idea; after her initial scream, Eva reacts to the dare by asking "complacently" what article of clothing is to be removed first, as if nakedness does not seem like a bad idea. The stripping is also perceived as a generally positive act. Munro describes the resulting sensation as, "They felt as if they were going to jump off a cliff and fly...Silence, amazement, came over them in a rush." This description implies a sense of liberation; flying has been associated with freedom since time immemorial, and "a rush" implies an overwhelmingly positive sensation. Munro suggests multiple times that Eva has feelings for Clayton, and she does not seem angry or upset at Clayton spitting water at her breasts. When Carol asks what happened, Eva responds with a curt "Nothing." Judging by her elation at the end of the story, this is hardly an expression of disgust or shame, and Eva claiming that she hates the boys could be an example of the juvenile tendency to make a point of belittling those for whom one has feelings.

Thus the boat fits the classical symbol of a means to achieve freedom and sexual independence.