Summary

Weeks passed as the ship wandered looking for land. The children settled in to their new life, forgetting everything that had come before. One day, Emily suddenly realized that she was an autonomous being rather than a floating consciousness. It was a moment of pure self-awareness that had somehow evaded her before, and she wondered at the miracle of her own body and existence. In awe of her own mind, she wondered if she might be God, and have the power to change people into mice or strike them blind. With great gravity, she resolved to keep her godhead a secret. The other children asked her to play, but she only continued floating and thinking. She suddenly recalled a night about a week before when she had “so unaccountably bitten the captain” (142). The crew was drunk and the noise kept the children awake...