Coral Island Spiel

The three boys sail to the island of Mango, where a missionary has converted some of the population to Christianity. There they once again meet Tararo, whose daughter Avatea wishes to become a Christian against her father's wishes.

The boys attempt to take Avatea in a small boat to a nearby island the chief of which has been converted, but en route they are overtaken by one of Tararo's war canoes and taken prisoner.

They are released a month later after the arrival of another missionary, and Tararo's conversion to Christianity. The " false gods " [30] of Mango are consigned to the flames, and the boys set sail for home, older and wiser.

All Ballantyne's novels are, in his own words, "adventure stories for young folks", and The Coral Island is no exception. The Coral Island , for all its adventure, is greatly occupied with the realism of domestic fiction the domain of the realist novel ; Ballantyne devotes about a third of the book to descriptions of the boys' living arrangements.

It is not meant for him. Daphne Kutzer has observed that "the swift movement of the story from coastal England to exotic Pacific island is similar to the swift movement from the real world to the fantastic in children's fantasy".

To a modern reader Ballantyne's books can seem overly concerned with accounts of flora and fauna, [38] an "ethnographic gloss" intended to suggest that their settings are real places offering adventures to those who can reach them.

The major themes of the novel revolve around the influence of Christianity, the importance of social hierarchies, and the inherent superiority of civilised Europeans over the South Sea islanders; Martine Dutheil, professor of English, considers the novel "a key text mapping out colonial relations in the Victorian period".

The supposed civilising influence of missionaries in spreading Christianity among the natives of the South Seas is an important theme of the second half of the story; [16] as Jack remarks to Peterkin, "all the natives of the South Sea Islands are fierce cannibals, and they have little respect for strangers".

The importance of hierarchy and leadership is also a significant element. The overarching hierarchy of race is informed by Victorian concepts, influenced by the new theories of evolution proposed by Darwin and others.

In morals and culture, the natives are placed lower on the evolutionary ladder than are Europeans, as is evidenced in the battle over the native woman Avatea, which pits "the forces of civilization versus the forces of cannibalism".

Although Jack, Ralph and Peterkin each have a say in how they should organise themselves, ultimately the younger boys defer to Jack, [44] "a natural leader", [39] particularly in a crisis, forming a natural hierarchy.

The pirates also have a hierarchy, but one without democracy, and as a consequence are wiped out. The hierarchy of the natives is imposed by savagery.

Notify me of replies from other users. Subscribe to comments:. Latest update: Feb 01, Related software. Adding too many sediments can cause a similar problem by blocking out the sun, starving the zooxanthellae that live on coral causing it to undergo a process known as coral bleaching.

The ocean's acidity is also a factor. Coral is made of calcium carbonate and is dissolved by carbonic acid. With the increase in carbon dioxide from combustion reactions in the atmosphere through precipitation carbon dioxide mixes with water and forms carbonic acid raising the ocean's acidity which slows coral growth.

Through chemical and physical changes humans can cause significant harm to reef systems and slow the creation of coral island chains.

Most of the world's coral islands are in the Pacific Ocean. The Lakshadweep Islands union territory of India is a group of 39 coral Islands , and some minor islets and banks.

Also, some of the islands belonging to Kiribati are considered coral islands. The Maldives also consist of coral islands.

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Virus Statement. Captain Jack - Coral Island. Beaches develop around the shoal, and wind may heap up the lighter, finer material into dunes.

Rainwater can now reach all this material, which, being almost entirely of calcium carbonate, is readily dissolved by it, and the dissolved lime is redeposited around the loose material, cementing it together.

The newly formed land is soon colonized by plants and animals, which also contribute their own remains to the island, helping soil to develop.

Many of the reef islands in the central and southern Pacific and of the Maldive Islands in the Indian Ocean originated in this way.

Reef islands, especially those close to sea level, are not very stable. The cyclones which help to create them may also damage and destroy them.

Waves may attack one side and redeposit the material on the other. Precarious though reef islands are, they have nevertheless long been the homes of peoples like the Polynesians and Micronesians in the Pacific and the Maldivians in the Indian Ocean.

These people have been able to survive by their seafaring skills, fishing the reef waters, rearing animals and crops on the land, and using for drinking water the thin lens of rainwater held within the reef rock.

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