How did Isla's environment compare to Bo's?

How do you think Isla's environment compared to Bo's?

Isla had recently moved to West Hobart to a small house she described as being the first real home of their own. One senses it was bought with divorce settlement funds with insufficient remaining to fully furnish or to provide the three occupants more than the most basic existence. It was an impoverished life made harder to bear as their mother was distant, incapable of warmth and love. Bo lived aboard a small ship and traveled and worked in a stark environment but possessed the qualities of love, laughter and friendship and an ease of communication. He enjoyed birdwatching and observing the seals and fauna on land and extended his skills of observation to a young girl who needed support and companionship. He would have willingly adopted her family as his own but for her mother's rejection.

Isla lives in a small home with mother and little brother. Bo is an apprentice cook on a supply ship, the Nella Dan. Although both have people around them, both feel stuck in their environment. Isla would like to get away, out into the bigger world and see more of life, have some adventures. Bo , when he leaves on a supply run, is isolated from the people and things on land. At one point in the book, a man on the boat wants to call his wife on her birthday, and Bo and his friends tell him "letters" is the best way to communicate with people. Also there is that memorable scene when they get stuck out in the ice for weeks and Bo just wants to taste an apple. The images were definitely amazing in the book.

I agree, Linda, that both environments, Isla's house and Bo's ship, were comfortable, loving homes for them.I As you pointed out, Isla said this was the first real home of their own. Home has important connotations: love, comfort, enough food, and safety. That is an important word. I don't agree, however, that Isla's mother was incapable of warmth and love though. She was simply not an important character, and the story is about the ship, Bo, and Isla. Isla's mother was dealing with her own issues and with providing a "home," not just a house, and food for her children. We don't have enough information to assess her qualities or lack of them. Also her divorce may have left her a little lacking in seeing to her children's emotional needs. She might not have been the perfect mother since she was dealing with her own problems. Good for Bo and his support of the children, particularly Isla, when their mother might have been incapable of that.

I also agree that Isla & Bo's life paralleled in that both wound up with less rather than more. Possibly both by choice--more likely Isla from divorce circumstances.

Although Isla's new house, "a little stone cottage of our very own" and "a room of my own" and "we will be happy here" conveyed a feeling of home I am not sure the feeling of home was realized. According to Isla, "it was something special to go to Bo's ship". Her own description includes words like " all bright and warm", "cozy and comforting and lived-in and well loved" and "A place much better than here". The theme of house vs home comes in to play here. The Nella Dan seemed like a real home to me.

It was really interesting to me that Isla's home sounded more stark, colder and lonelier than Bo's home above the Nella Dan, even when the ship was stranded in pack ice. I thought that was a beautiful juxtaposition that the author handled especially well.

I find this difficult to answer. I had not considered this. Isla was without a home for awhile and Bo had no home, other than the Nella Dan. I get the feeling that Isla did have a better home before the divorce. The author does not tell us what went on prior to the separation. Isla was not happy with the first places they lived in, she was happy to get into their own little cottage. It was a place to call home, just as Bo called the ship his home.