Excerpt:
Canton flannel gulls flew near and far. Sometimes they sat down on the sea, near patches of brown seaweed that rolled on the waves with a movement like carpets on a line in a gale. The birds sat comfortably in groups, and they were envied by some in the dingey, for the wrath of the sea was no more to them than it was to a covey of prairie chickens a thousand miles inland. Often they came very close and stared at the men with black bead-like eyes. At these times they were uncanny and sinister in their unblinking scrutiny, and the men hooted angrily at them, telling them to be gone. One came, and evidently decided to alight on the top of the captain's head. The bird flew parallel to the boat and did not circle, but made short sidelong jumps in the air in chicken-fashion. His black eyes were wistfully fixed upon the captain's head. "Ugly brute," said the oiler to the bird. "You look as if you were made with a jack-knife." The cook and the correspondent swore darkly at the creature. The captain naturally wished to knock it away with the end of the heavy painter; but he did not dare do it, because anything resembling an emphatic gesture would have capsized this freighted boat, and so with his open hand, the captain gently and carefully waved the gull away. After it had been discouraged from the pursuit the captain breathed easier on account of his hair, and others breathed easier because the bird struck their minds at this time as being somehow grewsome and ominous.
There are some important lines that illustrate the theme "the man projects his own fears on nature while nature remains indifferent".
I'm going to give you two of them:
1. In the very first line, it says "At these times they were uncanny and sinister in their unblinking scrutiny, and the men hooted angrily at them, telling them to be gone." In these lines the birds are doing nothing but staring at the men, nevertheless, the men think and feel the birds are "uncanny and sinister." This shows how the men are projecting their own fears on indifferent birds.
2. "After it had been discouraged from the pursuit the captain breathed easier on account of his hair, and others breathed easier because the bird struck their minds at this time as being somehow grewsome and ominous." In these lines the birds hit the men and the reason they give for this to happen is because the birds are, again, "grewsome and ominous." They are sure that birds are attracting some kind of evil. These lines demonstrate again how men project their own fears on birds, birds that do not even think of men as threats, food or any other way.
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