James Edward Dunning, journalist and publicist, is the author of many reviews, government reports, essays, and short stories. He has had a long and honorable connection with the Department of State at Washington.
What has happened before the sixteenth day, what ship it was, what its destination, who its crew, how they had been wrecked, we are not told; nor are we particularly concerned with the history of those preceding events. We are intent on one man living with half-mad intensity a whole life in a single day. It is not so much that he knows the pain of diminishing vitality, the scorchings of hunger and thirst, as it is the spiritual tortures he undergoes. Everything that treacherous Desire can mean, he feels. It is only an apple, but as he, in his hungered, famished state, gazes upon it, every sense is alive with an intense elemental desire. At the moment of severest trial, with the clearness of vision of those near death, he sees himself, knows his sin, feels the mercy of God. And as the day closes, he experiences the happiness of sacrifice. Beside him Zadoc sleeps, perhaps drifts off into the Unknown.
Suggested Points for Study and Comment
1. If the author had wished to make a much longer story of this, what episode or episodes could he have greatly elaborated? Can you surmise why he did not do this, but preferred rather to develop the situation he had selected?
2. What artistic effect is created by the description of the Cape Cod farm? Analyze the sensory imagery.
3. Why does Zadoc command that the last apple be placed 'under the tin cup in the middle of the raft'?
4. What had previously been Jeems’s attitude toward the sea? Has his attitude now changed? Why, or why not?
5. From the standpoint of mere sense-impression, what is the most significant moment in the story?
6. What is the point of highest spiritual interest?