As we discussed in class, this novel by Stephen Biel, a professor of writing at Harvard, deals not with how the Titanic went down and the details of its backstory but rather with the disaster as a cultural icon and how it has been used to address and promote all different kinds of ideological positions and issues. After getting through the first half of the narrative which illustrates the immediate reactions to the actual sinking of the ship; for example, the feminist and anti-feminist fight over the meaning of the protocol \u201cwomen and children first\u201d and whether or not it reflected chivalry or some other sort of stab at women. The second half of the book tags along with the first half and continues to speak of how different groups of people used the Titanic\u2019s wreck as ammunition to prove several of their own theories, as well as, shine light and examine how the Titanic has been preserved over the years in several unique fashions.<\/p>\n
Biel lays out for us many of the groups that used the Titanic as a means to address issues of the day. For instance, socialists, he claims used the sinking to attack the excesses of capitalism or the suffrage movement used it as a rally cry for support for the passing of the 19th Amendment as suffragists linked the sinking of the ship to God’s wrath. Biel continues to document how the Titanic was preserved and used as a platform by different groups to advocate and oppose things such as women’s suffrage, immigration, technology and safety protocol, disaster prevention, mainstream religion movements, civil rights activism and other issues of the day. He discerns that everyone found some sort of ammunition from the failure of the Titanic from poets, preachers and writers to reformers, racists and suffragists. One example in particular I found bold was, “I suggest, henceforth, when a woman talks women’s rights, she be answered with the word Titanic, nothing more\u2014just Titanic,” wrote a St. Louis man to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Biel, Down with the Old Canoe).<\/p>\n
Continuing with the other part of the second half of the work, Biel discusses how the story has been preserved through other means in which he examines films (Nazi propaganda movie), novels (ex. Danielle Steel), interestingly music (Bob Dylan, African toasts and calls, working-class ballads against the rich) and also spends a good time on Walter Lord’s A Night to Remember<\/i>, as a combination of the book, TV show and film. I cant comment per say on the sources he utilizes because I have no familiarity with them and I believe that may be answered in our discussion in class, however, I do think that the strength of this well-researched book is precisely the presence and analysis of these poetry, songs, books, films, and cartoons illustrating the different aspects of American life that were affected by the Titanic or felt the need to use the Titanic as a means to some end. As we talked about in class, Biel doesn\u2019t really give you a detailed lead up or background of the Titanic but I think he makes up for that with his writing skills and the usage of these attachments as a powerful claim that maybe even more important than the wreck itself, was the ways it was put to use by certain advocacy groups trying to promote the Titanic as a link or ammunition to their cause. I think amcarter is right when she says that the Titanic\u2019s second wave is addressing the anxiety and culture shifting that is taking course. People are scrambling to use this as a device to get ahead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As we discussed in class, this novel by Stephen Biel, a professor of writing at Harvard, deals not with how the Titanic went down and the details of its backstory but rather with the disaster as a cultural icon and how it has been used to address and promote all different kinds of ideological positions … <\/p>\n