The last three chapters of Part III begin with the crew having a critically low food situation. The food rations are reduced to almost nothing, and the last dog team is ordered to be killed.
Land is sighted, but the tension between the crew members is still high. Multiple sea leopards are hunted, raising the blubber and food supplies. The section ends with the floes breaking up enough for the crew to launch the boats, which began their dangerous voyage to land.
On page 120 Macklin writes in his diary, "'There is absolutely nothing to do but kill time as best one may. Even at home with theatres and all sorts of amusements, changes of scene and people, four months idleness would be tedious: One can then imagine how much worse it is for us.'" I think this quote is important because it lets the reader get a feeling for how truly boring it is to do nothing. In grade school, when I was grounded I would be grounded to my room for a week. I was not able to do anything except homework and read. In other words I was completely bored for a week. I understand what it feels like to be totally bored, but Macklin gives me a feeling for what four months feels like.
"Penguins are croaking...and occasionally a shoal of them swim through a pool with a peculiar leaping movement like great fleas hopping along the water surface, and looking fine in the brilliant sunlight." This passage is a perfect example of imagery. "Penguins are croaking" pertains to the sense of hearing. "Peculiar... sunlight" pertains to the sense of sight.
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