Questions to Guide Your Reading

1. The title of the book we are studying is In the Eye of the Hurricane.  Explain the significance of this title.  Why is Part I of the book entitled "Living in the Hurricane"?  Why is Part II, then, entitled "The Hurricane in Nature"?

Chapter 7:  Venus and Aeneas

2. Who was Joshua James and what did he do that drew the interest of Philip Hallie?  How did Hallie find out about him?

3. According to Hallie, ethics, in the Western world at least, has been appalled at what?  What have ethical thinkers "done their best to overcome"?

4. Why does Hallie entitle ch. 7 of his book, "Venus and Aeneas"?

Chapter 8:  Thoreau's Walk on the Wild Side

5. Why does Hallie, entitle ch. 8, "Thoreau's Walk on the Wild Side"?  In what area does that walking tour take place?

6. What was Thoreau's response to the death of the 145 Irish immigrants killed in a storm traveling between Galway and Boston on the brig St. John ?

7. According to Hallie, what appealed most to Thoreau about nature?

8. What did Thoreau think about the sentiment of compassion?

9. What, according to Hallie, is "at the very center" of Edmund Burke's idea of the sublime?  What in particular gives us our awareness of the sublime?

10. Why did Thoreau think that the beach where the wreck of the St. John had happened had a "rarer and sublimer beauty" than it would have if the murderous storm had not happened there?

11. Hallie suggests that "our delight in the sublime" is made possible because of what "fact of human life"?  What, according to him, are we "fascinated in"; what do we "rejoice to see"?

12. Describe the scene in Charles Dickens' David Copperfield between Steerforth and Ham.  What significance does Hallie find in this scene?

13. According to Hallie, what sort of sublimity does Thoreau deny in his account of the wreck of the St. John?  What, according to Hallie, could he not "countenance even the possibility of"?

14. What perspective does Hallie think Thoreau brings to his writing of the story of the wreck of the St. John?  What do you think?

15. What facts does Hallie point out about the lifeboat station at Cohasset.  What did their failure to save anyone in the wreck of the St. John confirm in the mind of Thoreau?

16. What was the purpose of the "charity hut."  What did Thoreau find when he explored one?  What did he conclude from his visit?  How else might one view the charity huts set up by the people of the Massachusetts Bay area?

Chapter 9: The Pelican

17. Why was the Nantasket Peninsula one of the most dangerous places in America during the middle of the 19th century?  Why, in other words, did "ship after ship, person after person" die off that coast?

18. What appeal was made by Captain Dill to his fellow villagers in the village of Hull?  Why was Hallie astonished when he read about Hull's speech?

Chapter 10:  The Hands of Joshua James

19. When on the morning of the gale of November 25, 1888, Joshua James felt the wind rising and perceived that there would probably be danger to six ships anchored off-shore, what was his first reaction?

20. What according to neighbors did Joshua James do when he wasn't involved in life-saving?

21. Hallie says at one point:  "There is no understand Joshua James, the patron saint, to this day, of the Search and Rescue Service of the U. S. Coast Guard, without understanding that he was a mere extension, a conspicuous part -- but only a part -- of the people of Hull."  Explain what he means.

22. How many ships did James and his men have to perform rescues on during this particular storm?  Did any of these men get paid?  What did the receive as a recompense for their actions?

23. According to Hallie:  "There are those who think that citizenship is simply a possession, a legitimate right symbolized and legalized by a duly attested document that one puts in a strongbox, or something one receives as a birthright.  For them being a citizen is primarily a public, legal matter, with no special obligations, except perhaps not to do certain things -- not to kill, not to rob, not to cheat."  There were people like that in Hull, says Hallie, but there were also people who had a somewhat different view of the matter.  How does he describe them?  What view of citizenship do you have?

24. What image does Hallie use to suggest the differences between the wintry village and the great summer resort of Hull?

25. What was Joshua James's reaction to seeing his mother and baby-sister drown in a sinking boat offshore when he was eleven years old?    

26. According to Hallie, there was one thing besides lifesaving to which Joshua James was committed body and soul.  What was it?

27. According to Hallie: "Thoreau leads us to think that we must choose between allegiance to nature and allegiance to human society.  He wants a freedom that is not just civic, but that is absolute."  What does Hallie think of this dichotomy?  Explain.

28. When, according to Hallie, does a "moral beauty" happen?  In your opinion, what makes something truly "sublime"?