Ocean (Symbol)
The whole story of the book is happening in the Pacific Ocean. People live there, die there, gain new friends, enemies and change themselves. It is like a naturally accepted condition of life for them and they can’t imagine their existing without it. Characters have jobs on the water and reside on a ship, so the ocean is here a symbol of human life.
Philosophy (Motif)
The book is written in a very philosophical way. It addresses the difficulties of human destiny, about all important things in life and about the world in general. The main character looks at everything very philosophically; he describes things around him in an original manner, not ordinary, so it is very interesting to follow his thoughts and it require some time to understand what he really means.
The fog (Allegory)
Floating in the ocean, characters get into a thick fog that covers everything they see. The whole view was deeply hidden in this fog, so sails didn’t know where to go because they couldn’t see anything. Therefore, the author calls the fog an “infinite mystery” which means a mystery of our life. We don’t know the future, this is a secrecy for us like for sailors the secrecy is their way through the fog.
