Alfred Lansing
"Without speaking, Clark reached out and poured some of his milk into Greenstreet's mug. Then Worsley, then Macklin, and Rickenson and Kerr, Orde-Lees, and finally Blackboro. They finished in silence."
page 127
Movie producers could not have created a more dramatic and heart-warming scene than that which occurred in the midst of this quote. Before this point, an argument, sparked by Shackleton's refusal to allow an expedition to retrieve food from their previous camp, erupted in the tents. In the fray of the argument, Greenstreet's meager, but only, milk ration was spilled because someone bumped into him. The thought at being forced to go for a day without drink would bring any person to any extreme of negative emotion. However, driven by pity, the other men sacrificed their drink to relieve this innocent bystander. This marked an important development; the crack that threatened to divide the group was mended.
This act of loving sacrifice that solidified the bond between endangered lives is found in The Lord of the Rings (details will be mainly from the movie, but the same message is found in the books). On the way to the land of Mordor, Frodo and Sam neared the end of their food supply. In an act of love and dedication, Sam sacrifices the vast majority of his food supply to Frodo. This sacrifice greatly strengthened the bond between the two, a bond threatened to break by the ring's souring of Frodo's attitude. However, Sam's sacrifice of his essential needs allowed Frodo to remain dedicated to Sam, and the two were able to survive and to destroy the ring with help from each other.
Yet another Lord of the Rings reference. Abby Koop would not be happy that I made two of them before even one Harry Potter reference.
Although the men proved to be willing to do anything to ensure the survival of their fellow crew members, conditions on the ice were not improving. The ice floe was constantly breaking. Erin Crowther brought up a good observation in her blog "Scatterbrain" that the series of catastrophes the crew experienced is comparable to that suffered by Japan this year. Because of this Shackleton allowed nobody to leave for anything, even retrieving food. "Almost continually there were sounds of pressure, apparently caused by the ice being jammed against the curving arm of the Palmer Peninsula." Through the use of figurative language Lansing helps the reader to imagine the constant reminder to the crew of the grave danger in which they found themselves.
Eventually, the breaking of ice pushed Shackleton to order the crew into the boats in order to reach a nearby island. However, danger followed, as approaching ice growth threatened to trap the crew in inhospitable ice.
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