Essay Example on High Wind in Jamaica: A Hurricane, Earthquake, and Kidnapping

A High Wind in Jamaica is an interesting novel about five children from Britain, the Bras-Thornton's from Jamaica who, in an unfortunate turn of events are kidnaped by unknown pirates. Before being abducted, the children were living with their parents in sugar plantations on an island. A severe hurricane and earthquake that follows instils a lot of fear in the parents who then decide to send the children back to England so that they can continue pursuing their education.

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Originally, the book was known as The Innocent Voyage and was published by Harper and Brothers. It was after a few months that Hugh's renamed the book for purposed of publication later the same year. This document, therefore, seeks to explore the failures of the adults, for instance, cases where adults fail their children and the consequences of this, or instances where adults have failed their fellow adults and the consequences of this.

Whether it's the readers or the victims, no one is inclined to be sympathetic to the pirates who have kidnapped the young children. This is because there are many shameful actions done by adults. One example is that of Miss Dawson who takes up Emily by the hand immediately after the rescue. She then forces and presses her to reveal the details of the kidnapping even though Emily is clearly distraught and not ready to talk about the events. Emily is still suffering from the horrors that happened on the ship, and she would rather not talk about it. When she is made to talk about it, she is left emotionally crippled. "She saw that Emily did not want to talk about the horrors she had been through: but considered it far better that she should be made to talk than that she should brood over them in secret." (Hughes 82).

Another important failure is that of Richard himself, which is mirrored in Captain Jonsen. His erotic interests are seen when he (Jonsen) places his hand on Emily's chin as he strokes her hair with his other hand. His action completely scares away Emily, and she ends up biting his thumb. "she caught his thumb and bit as hard as she could: then, terrified at her own madness, dashed across the hold to where the other children were gathered in a wondering knot" (Hughes 122).

Captain Jonsen's momentary weakness reveals many sinister possibilities and forms the basis of Emily's hostile behavior. Further, when he distances himself from her, she misunderstands his actions and blames herself for the violent behavior reaction to what was apparently a good friendly gesture. Due to what she has experienced, Emily is not ready to move into adulthood, and when things get out of hand, she begins to flirt with the captain and his assistant. Captain Jonsen is eventually punished for this behavior.

Another failure seen in the novel is when Emily turns eight years old, and her mother thinks that she is now too old to bath naked. Emily thus finds a bathing dress, which was a cotton nightgown. Unfortunately, when she jumps in the bath, as usual, the air bubbles make her lose control, and she falls as the wet cotton cloth wraps itself around her head nearly drowning her. She loses her decency over this incident as she doesn't think it was worthy drowning over. (Hughes 159).

As seen in the novel, the pirates were the original cause of the trouble. However, as the novel progresses, the roles are reversed, and the children become the evil ones. This can all be attributed to the brutal nature of the pirates. As the children continue to suffer under the hands of the pirates, they become accustomed to their nature, and they too begin to behave badly. As the pirates drink on the ship and lose their sense of humanity to the children, the children tend to develop a deformed sense of what is right and what is wrong, that the pirates end up being frightened by them.

In this case, the failure of the adults is behaving in a manner that provoked the children making them do things they could never have otherwise thought of doing all because they had to defend themselves. This can be seen before the final rescue when Emily murders a man in cold man in the name of self-defense (Hughes 122).

Conclusion

In conclusion, therefore, and as seen from the novel, this is a book that cuts across different age groups where children can read it and enjoy the stories, while for adults it becomes more than just an interesting story due to the twisted children's brutality stories. The nature of the children changes gradually from the beginning to the end where they start off as innocent children but develop to be mean and cruel. This, however, can be attributed to the failure of the adults as depicted throughout the novel.

Work cited

Hughes, R. (1999). A high wind in Jamaica. New York Review of Books.