The book “Lost in the Antarctic” by Tod Olson is about Ernest Shackleton’s expedition to Antarctica in 1914. The story gives a thrilling and action-packed experience as Olson drags the reader onto Shackleton’s ship and into the Antarctic. In the harsh deserts of Antarctica, Shackleton and his men face many hindrances, including the cold, illnesses, and living in extreme destitution. As the journey proceeds, another challenge rises upon the crew – Getting to Antarctica is one thing, but getting back is another

Big Ideas:

Central Idea: The harsh environments in the expedition

This page shows the tone of the main settings, which is a main factor of the story. The settings in this story play a big role as the “antagonist” of the story, as Shackleton and his men try to fight against nature. Harsh environments is a central idea because the unforgiving settings are described by the author multiple times, and directly connects with the storyline and the conflict, which is mainly “man vs nature”. This idea also connects with the theme with the book “be grateful”, since the environments give the men harsh conditions to cope with.

Theme: Be grateful for what you have

This page is about the cause & effect of Shackleton’s ship, The Endurance, sinking. This is the climax of the story, as not only is it a big event, but after the ship sinks Shackleton’s character also changes from being a forever-optimistic leader to more of a discourage and desperate person as he starts to show some pessimism to his men. In this section of the story, the author starts to communicate to the readers the theme of being grateful of what they have, as he starts to emphasize the men had to face, such as destitution, hunger, and depression etc.

This page shows the theme of the story which is to be grateful of what you have along with evidence and quotes from the book. The theme of “be grateful” mostly comes from the author’s descriptions of the harsh conditions that the men had to face after the climax of the story, when The Endurance sinks, which the crew took a huge hit both physically and mentally. Cited in blue are some examples of the descriptions that the author used to create pictures of the extreme conditions the men lived in. It becomes a motif throughout the book, and the idea of harsh conditions keeps on appearing again and again. In these quotes, the author is implying that we should not complain about our lives, as the troubles we face is nothing compared to what the men are facing.

This section further adds on to the theme to be grateful, as in these two quotes, Shackleton’s men are being grateful for what they have left, instead of complaining about the many things that they don’t have. They started to become grateful for everything edible, solid ground, and still being alive. Through these quotes, the author is implicitly communicating with us calling us out to stop complaining about whatever “unfairness” or “bad times” we are going through, and to instead be happy about what we do have – a safe shelter, stable food sources, heating, education, etc. – everything that Shackleton and his crew does NOT have.

I would highly recommend Lost in the Antarctic as it is a fun, action-packed read that raises awareness about the topic of war, and pervades gratefulness. Thank you for your time, and I hope that my notes have helped give a better understanding of the big ideas of the book.