Animal Imagery

Porter frequently uses animal and bird imagery to refer to the passengers on the ship. Much of this occurs in Part 1, as the travelers are first introduced. The implication is that this particular group of humans lacks some essential quality that would make them fully human, an implication that is often confirmed as their characters unfold during the course of the voyage.

Some examples of the imagery include Lizzi, who is likened to a "peahen"; Rieber, who is both "pig-snouted" and a "little short-legged strutting cock"; and Jenny, who is likened by some of the hostile local people to a mule or a monkey. The locals also observe that poor little Hans has been made into a "monkey" by the leather riding costume his parents force him to wear even in the hot weather. The Spanish girls are as "noisy as a flock of quarreling birds"; David...