This story by N. V. M. Gonzalez describes a journey on a Philippine passenger-cargo ship from a small port to its provincial capital. In addition to paying passengers, the ship is transporting a young cargardor (stevedore) who was critically injured during the loading of cargo to the capital for medical treatment. Tending him are his pregnant wife and her mother. Despite a supposed telegraph request for a doctor meet the ship on arrival, as the ship departs the capital they are left stranded on the dock with no sign of help. Themes include suffering, inhumanity, social class, superstition.
Because of unusually rough seas, the injured man was moved from the third class area to first class. Although ostensibly for his comfort, there is an implication this was only because the captain thought his confinement in third class may have been bringing the ship bad luck.
A feature of the story is the indifference of the first class passengers and ship’s officers to the man’s suffering. The reference to World War 2 in the closing paragraphs and the comment about forgiving the man’s treatment because it had been that way at that time suggests bitterness because the captain, and possibly the doctor, retain the prevailing pre-war feudal attitude towards social class.
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