The Last Voyage of the Ghost Ship    Gabriel Garcia Marquez 

 

‘The Last Voyage of the Ghost Ship’, written in the stream of consciousness style, traces the growth of an ordinary boy to an assertive young man. In addition to the depiction of the character, the story deals with the “Ghost Ship” that appears once in a year at night and sinks without a sound. It is written by Columbian novelist and story writer, Gabriel Garcia Maquiz.
According to the story, the narrator happens to be an orphan. As a boy he was brought up by his widow mother who died in course of time leaving him alone in the world. As a result he had to resort to the stealing of the fish from the boat and maintain his life in a miserable way. In those days when his mother was alive, he used to stay very late on the beach to enjoy the surroundings. He remembers having encountered the ghost ship for the first time. It was the largest ship he had ever seen. Surprisingly enough, it groped its way towards the channel and then suddenly headed towards the shoals as if something went wrong with the channel, where it sank without any sound. He found himself frozen with fright and thought that it could be a dream. This happened in the month of March. Being not sure about it, he kept the matter to himself. 
However, he was puzzled to see the same spectacle in the next year at the same time. This time he was so sure of himself that he revealed the things to his mother. Naturally she did not believe in him and was worried over his activities. At the third time, being confident he created a great fuss at night causing the fright among the people of the village. They lost their temper when they failed to notice any ghost sip as was told to them by the boy. So they calmed their anger by covering him with blows.
On account of this event, the boy made up his mind to show them who he was. With this determination at heart, he started waiting for the next season. When the time came, he managed to steal a boat and kept waiting for the ship. Exactly at the same time in the same place it appeared. It was an intermittent ship disappearing in beacon light and reappearing in the dark night. The mysterious liner moved as if its compasses were out of order. It was grouping for the invisible channel but actually heading for the shoals. There he understood as if he got a revelation then he lighted the lantern in the boar. Surprisingly enough, the liner corrected its course and entered the main gate of the channel in the movement of lucky resurrection.
The lights of the lines went on and the boilers wheezed with variety of sounds filling the atmosphere. It appeared as if the life that had ceased long ago was renewed. Although, he was frightened by such miracle, his determination to let the people see who he was activated him take the confidence of the ship which was twenty times taller than steeple and ninety seven times longer than the village. He guided the ship till he was sure of its obedience. Then he made it change the direction towards the lights of the sleeping village. It headed into the village causing cataclysm and shattering the ground. Ninety thousand five hundred champagne glasses were broken and the whole atmosphere was illuminated with the light of the ship. The disbelievers watched it with their open mouth.

The story reads like a fable with full of supernatural touch. It sounds rather strange and uncanny. Although, the whole story is narrated in one sentence with the technique of interior monologue, the readers find the story interesting due to the style of narration.
Important Questions from The Last Voyage of the Ghost Ship by Garcia Maquiz
Short Answer Questions
1. What does the refrain of the boy “Now they’re going to see who I am” mean? [2061] 2. Why did the boy have to prove who he was? [2064]
Long Answer Questions
1. Narrate the story of the boy’s growth from an ordinary boy to an assertive young man. [2057]
Glossary: [voyage: a long journey by ship, stream of consciousness style: it is a narrative way to portray one’s point of view, assertive: behaving in confident way, resort: a place where many people go for holiday, groped: to try to get hold of something by hand usually without the sight of the object, fuss: getting excited about (usually) something unimportant, intermittent: stopping and starting again for a short period of time, boar: wild pig, resurrection: existing again after a long period of time, wheezed: a lung problem causing to breathe with a noisy sound, steeple: a church tower that has a point at the top, cataclysm: violent event, champagne: French white wine, fable: a short story, uncanny: strange and impossible to explain, interior monologue: a piece of writing expressing a character’s inner thought]