ISU Log Two Barometer Rising by Hugh MacLennan For: Mrs ...

ISU Log Two
Barometer Rising
by
Hugh MacLennan
For: Mrs. Caputo
Due: Friday, December 23 rd , 2011
By: Jayden Neira
Course Code: ENG2DR

Passage One: Page 205
The dinner dishes were washed
and the dish cloths hung against the
copper boiler to dry. Alec was seated
on a wooden chair beside the kitchen
table with his shirt open at the neck,
his shoes off, and his feet in heavy
army socks that made them look like
enormous khaki sponges. A glass
containing a mixture of rum and water
was half-hidden in one of his hands,
but he seemed to have forgotten it was
there, for he had been sitting all of ten
minutes without moving. The stove in
the corner was burning high and all
the windows were shut. The hot air of
the room had an odour of dish-water
and cabbage and the fumes from
Alec’s pipe. Like most poor folk in
northern countries, the MacKenzies
hoarded what warmth they had. The
plastered walls of the kitchen were
bare except for large calendar donated
by a grocery store. They were stained
and yellow as naphtha in the glare of
the unshaded lamp which stood in the
center of the table, giving Alec light to
read his paper and enabling Annie his
wife to see the socks she was knitting.
Here we are introduced to a very
important character in the novel
Barometer Rising, Alec MacKenzie. In
this passage he seems like a very
relaxed person and we are given
enough detail to possibly picture what
he looks like.
This makes the reader wonder what
he is so lost in thought, thinking about
that he hasn’t moved for ten minutes.
We know that Neil is looking for him,
but he does not. We don’t yet know
why Neil is looking for Alec however.
The author uses sensory imagery here
to give us an idea of what Alec’s house
was like. We can picture in our minds
what it looks like, what it feels like and
what it smells like from the way the
author describes it.
We learn that Alec and his family are
very poor, like many of the people in
the north end of Halifax. It also uses a
literary device when it says that they
‘hoarded’ the warmth.
His wife, Annie, is introduced; we also
find out that he has children if we read
a few pages more.

Context:
In this passage we are introduced to a very important person in the novel,
Barometer Rising. Alec MecKenzie lives in the north side of Halifax, with all of the
poor people and he also work’s for Colonel Wain, Penny’s father. In this passage Alec
is sitting at home with his wife, Annie and their kids.
Before this all we know about Alec MacKenzie is that Neil is looking for him, but
we don’t know why. We don’t know very much about Alec until this point. After this
passage Neil comes to Alec’s house and asks him if he will “testify for [him]” (216)
against Colonel Wain in court and Alec agrees to, even though he knows he will get
fired if he does. We also find out that Alec knew Neil’s father and that they were
very close friends, so Alec like Neil as well.
Significance:
This is significant to the novel because it introduces a very important character in
the novel. Alec MacKenzie is the only person who can testify against Colonel Wain so
that Neil doesn’t get in a lot of trouble, and possibly killed. Alec knows that “it may
mean [he’ll] lose his job” (216) working at the Shipyards for Wain if he does, but he
also knows that it is the right thing to do to help Neil out, so he decides that he will
help him. He also knows that he will most likely not get another job, and defiantly
not one that pays as good as the one he has now. He still is willing to help Neil,
however, even though he is already very poor. This shows what kind of person Alec
is and how he knows what is right and he will do what he knows is right even if it
means putting himself in a difficult situation.

Passage Two- Climax:
Page 247-248
The Mont Blanc had become the center
of a static tableau. Her plates began to
glow red and the swollen air inside her
hold heated the cargo rapidly towards the
detonation point. Launches from the
harbour fire department surrounded her
like midges and the water from their
hoses arched up with infinite delicacy as
they curved into the rolling smoke. The
Imo, futile and forgotten, was still trying
to claw her way off the farther shore.
Twenty minutes after the collision there
was no one along the entire waterfront
who was unaware that a ship was on fire
in the harbour. The jetties and docks near
the Narrows were crowded with people
watching the show, and yet no warning of
danger was given. At that particular
moment there was no adequate
centralized authority in Halifax to give a
warning, and the few people who knew
the nature of the Mont Blanc’s cargo had
no means of notifying the town or
spreading the alarm and no comfort
beyond the thought that trinitrotoluol can
stand an almost unlimited heat provided
there is no fulminate or explosive gas to
detonate it.
Bells in the town struck the hour of nine,
and by this time nearly all normal activity
along the waterfront had been suspended.
A tug had managed to grapple the Mont
Blanc and was towing her with
imperceptible movement away from the
Shipyards back into the channel of the
Narrows. Bluejackets from the cruiser had
found the bos’n’s ladder left by the fleeing
crew, and with flesh shrinking from the
heat, were going over the side. Firelaunches
surrounded her. There was a
static concentration, an intense
expectancy in the faces of the firemen
The Mont Blanc was the ammunition ship
that blew up when the Imo rammed into it
in December of 1917.
This paragraph is very descriptive and
lets us know what is going on with the
Mont Blanc before she blows up. It uses
many different literary devices to
describe what is happening. It uses a
simile to describe the fire harbour as ‘like
midges’ as they are trying to put out the
burning ship. It also has alliteration,
putting emphasis on how the ship, Imo, is
‘futile and forgotten.’ There is also a
metaphor included when it describes the
Imo as ‘claw[ing]’ her way off the shore.
This allows the reader to visualize what
the scene of the burning ship would look
like.
This gives the reader an accurate time
span between the point on which the
Mont Blanc catches on fire and actually
blows up.
This uses suspense to grab the reader’s
attention. We wonder why people are not
running from the harbour and away from
the danger. The author uses dramatic
irony to catch our attention and make us
what to keep reading because we know
that the boat is full of explosives and is
going to blow up but the people in the
novel do not.
This makes us wonder why no one has
warned the people about the ship being
filled with explosives and ammunition
and why the ship crew has ran away
without trying to help any of the other
people and try to get them away from the
danger. This again catches the reader’s
attention and draws us in to keep reading.
This, again, gives the reader an actuate
time of when the events of the day
actually happened.

playing the hoses, a rhythmic
reverberation in the beat of the flames, a
gush from the hose nozzles and a steady
hiss of scalding water. Everything else for
miles around seemed motionless and
silent.
Then a needle of flaming gas, thin as the
mast and of a brilliance unbelievably
intense, shot through the deck of the Mont
Blanc near the funnel and flashed more
than two hundred feet toward the sky.
The firemen were thrown back and their
hoses jumped suddenly out of control and
slashed the air with S-shaped designs.
There were a few helpless shots. Then all
movement and life about the ship were
encompasses in a sound beyond hearing
as the Mont Blanc opened up.
At this point the people the people at the
harbour think that they are safe and that
everything is under control, but the
reader knows that they are not safe and
that the boat is about to explode. The
author uses dramatic irony again to
capture the reader’s interest and
attention.
The end of this passage ends in suspense.
It talks about how the Mont Blanc
exploded and then just stops. This makes
the reader want to continue reading to
find out what happens next, especially to
the people at the harbour. The author
uses suspense to catch the reader’s
attention and draw them in, so they
continue to read the novel.

Context:
During this passage the ammunition boat, Mont Blanc, is still on fire in the water
and the crew has abandoned ship and ran to take cover. None of the people standing
at the harbour watching the burning ship or the people in town know that the ship is
filled with explosives and is going to explode. The fire fighters are trying to put out
the burning ship, but no one is really concerned because they don’t realize the
danger that they are all in. The whole crew had abandoned ship and were “in [a] lifeboat”
(246) heading towards shore and away from the boat, but didn’t bother to tell
anyone about the explosives on it.
Before this Neil visited Alec Macrae’s house and found out that Alec “knew his
father” (226) when barley anyone else did. Neil wanted to ask Alec if he would
“testify for [him]” (216) at court against Colonel Wain, who was Alec’s boss. Alec
however agrees to even if it means that he will lose his job at the Shipyards. Alec
also asks Neil to stay the night and when Neil says no, Alec tells him that his (Neil’s)
father used to all the time and that he was one of his own people, so Neil agrees to.
After this passage, the Mont Blanc blows up and created three forces, “an
earthquake, an air concussion and a tidal wave.” (248) That night there is also one of
the worst snowstorms Halifax had ever seen. The blow from the ship was so strong
that most houses were knocked off of their foundations and almost every house had
the glass broken from the windows. Neil and Murray us the Wain’s house as a make
shift hospital so they can help the injured people because the hospitals were almost
filled to the limit and Murray was a surgeon.
Significance:
This passage is significant because it is the climax of the novel. It is right before the
Mont Blanc blows up and the suspension is very high. It also ends in a very
suspenseful way and makes the reader want to continue reading to find out what
happens next. It also sets up for one of the main themes in the novel, which is that
people change. After the explosion Aunt Maria is much nicer and a lot more willing
to help and even sets up the house to be a makeshift hospital for Murray and Neil.
They believe that Aunt Maria changed because the explosion had been one ting that
she was not able to “bully out of the way.” (284)

Idea One:
“But people do. I’ve seen the war changing them all the time.” (356)
The idea of people changing is a very important theme in the novel Barometer
Rising. The idea of people changing is present in Murray, Penny and Aunt Maria.
Around the middle of the book we find Angus Murray drunk in a bar, telling the
bartender that he “can still operate” (224) and that the “war hasn’t finished [him]
yet.” (224) He is feeling useless at this point and wants to be able to work and help
people. After the explosion happened he had to set up a fake hospital in the Wain’s
house because all of the hospitals were full. This made him feel like he was needed
because “he had performed eleven operations without assistance” (336), which gave
him confidence. Penny has also changed throughout the novel, Barometer Rising. At
the beginning of the novel Penny did not stand up for herself very much and often
let her family push her around and tell her that she was wrong to be working at the
Shipyards. By the middle of the novel, however, she got more confident in herself
and ended up confronting her father about her seeing Neil and demanded to know if
he was really dead or not. We also hear from Neil numerous times throughout the
novel mentioning how different Penny is now than from the last time he saw her.
Perhaps Aunt Maria was the most changed throughout the novel. At the beginning of
Barometer Rising, Aunt Maria was very loud and had a big opinion that she liked to
share. She would tell Penny that she should not be working at the Shipyards and
even after the explosion, when Neil and Murray went to the Wain’s house to use it as
a hospital, she told Neil to “stay away from [her]” (272), even though he was just
trying to help. After Murray told her that he needed her help to turn the house into a
hospital she completely changed. She got the whole house organized and even found
Murray a qualified nurse to help him. She even told Murray that she “[had]
confidence in [him]” (284) when he did an operation on Penny. As you can see many
people changed throughout the novel Barometer Rising, including Murray, Penny
and Aunt Maria.
Reference One- Allusion:
“Roddie soon discovered that members of his aunt’s chapter of the Imperial Order of
the Daughters of the Empire had commandeered the entire house.” (300)
Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire:
The Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire (or IODE) is national women’s
charitable organization that is dedicated to improve the quality of life for people.
IODE Canada was founded in 1900 to make Canada a better place for all of its
citizens.

This is important in the novel, Barometer Rising, because Penny’s Aunt Maria is
also part of this organization and this probably explains why she thinks so highly of
herself and why she thinks that she can boss everyone else around. It also confuses
the reader though, because it make us wonder why she doesn’t want Penny to work
at the Shipyards if she is part of an organization that is meant to make Canada a
better place for everyone.
Sources:
http://www.iode.ca/AboutUs.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Order_of_the_Daughters_of_the_Empire
Reference Two: Allusion/Reference
“There was now only one vessel moving north towards the upper harbour, the
French munition ship Mont Blanc.” (239)
Mont Blanc:
The Mont Blanc was a French ship that carried general cargo and munitions. She
was 44.8 feet wide, 320 feet long and had a depth of 15.3 feet. The ship was powered
by steam and had a gross tonnage of 3121 tonnes.
On December 6 th , 1917 the Mont Blanc was carrying picric acid, gun cotton and
TNT and the top deck carried benzol. The Imo, a Belgian relief vessel, was leaving
Halifax Harbour at the same time that the Mont Blanc was on its way to wait for
convoy. The two ships collided around 8:45 am and the Mont Blanc caught on fire.
For twenty minutes people crowed around Halifax Harbour to watch the burning
ship as it drifted towards Pier 6. The crew of the Mont Blanc abandoned ship in
lifeboats to Dartmouth shore and tried to warn people to run.
The Mont Blanc hit Pier 6, setting its wood pilings on fire, and finally, after 20
minuets of burning, exploded. The explosion flattened everything within 800 meters
and caused damage for 1.6 km and cause many fires, which spread quickly.
The explosion caused by the Mont Blanc caused more than 1900 deaths, 9000
injured, 1600 buildings destroyed, 12,000 houses damaged, 6000 people homeless
and 25,000 people with inadequate housing.
This is the main event in the novel and everything else in the novel revolves
around this one aspect. The main idea of the book is about the Halifax explosion,
which was caused by the ship, Mont Blanc when it crashed into the Imo. In the novel,
Barometer Rising, it said that the explosion of the ship created three forces
simultaneously; “an earthquake, an air concussion, and a tidal wave.” (248)
Sources:
http://www.halifaxexplosion.org/collision.html
http://canadaonline.about.com/cs/canadaww1/p/halifaxexpl.htm

Reference Three-Reference/Allusion:
Explosives:
“A half-million pounds of trinitrotoluol and twenty-three hundred tons of picric acid
lay there in the darkness under the plates, while the fire above and below the deck
converted the hollow shell of the vessel into a bake-oven.” (245-246)
Trinitrotoluol:
Trinitroltoluol is a yellow coloured solid that is a useful explosive material and
has convenient handling properties. It is the explosive yield of TNT and is
considered the standard measure of strength of bombs and other explosives. TNT
was first prepared by a German chemist named Julius Wilbrand in1863 and was
originally used as a yellow dye. It is now used for blasting, and in artillery shells.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinitrotoluene
http://www.yourdictionary.com/trinitrotoluol
Picric Acid:
Picric Acid is formally known as 2,4,6-trinitrophenol (TNP). It is a yellow
crystalline solid and is one of the most acidic phenols. Picric Acid is and explosive
and it has a very bitter taste. It is mostly used in munitions and explosives, but also
has some use in the preparation of crystalline salts of organic bases in organic
chemistry.
Sources:
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/459542/picric-acid
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picric_acid
These both connect to the novel, Barometer Rising, because both of these
explosives where on the ship, Mont Blanc, and caused it to explode because of the
impact when the ship Imo rammed into them. These two explosives are the cause of
the Halifax Explosion, which is the main topic in the novel.

Connections:
I really enjoyed the novel, Barometer Rising by Hugh MacLennan. It was a very
interesting novel and it was very descriptive about what happened during the
Halifax Explosion. I think that it helped a lot that MacLennan had a personal
experience with the explosion and it made the book even better because he could
use so much detail and be very accurate about what time things happened.
At the beginning of the novel, I found it was quit boring because nothing was
really happening and it was more just people talking. Around the middle of the
novel, however, I found it got very interesting and there was a lot more action and
more conflicts between the characters. When the explosion happened it got very
interesting as well and I could hardly put the book down.
Would definitely recommend this as an ISU novel for students next semester
because it is very interesting once you get into it and it gives you a lot of information
on the Halifax Explosion. It is also is a fairly easy book to work with when doing an
ISU because it as so many different references to use and you can connect to the
novel in many different ways.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading this novel and I found it very interesting and I
learned a lot of things that I never knew before about the Halifax Explosion while
reading it.