Going Ashore by Mavis Gallant
"Going Ashore" by Mavis Gallant is a short story that delves into the complex relationship between a mother and her daughter during a winter cruise in the Mediterranean. Mrs. Ellenger, a wealthy widow, is characterized by her boredom and discontent, which deeply affects her thirteen-year-old daughter, Emma. While Emma is eager to explore new places, she finds herself trapped in her mother's cynical worldview, which stifles her curiosity and enjoyment of their travels. The story unfolds as they arrive in Tangier, where Mrs. Ellenger's dismissive behavior toward both Emma and the locals contrasts sharply with Emma's quiet yearning for adventure and connection.
As the narrative progresses, a pivotal moment occurs when Emma is gifted a toy tiger that supposedly holds magical powers, symbolizing her hopes and dreams. However, her realization that the tiger is merely a trinket leads to a newfound resolve to break free from her mother's influence. The story culminates in Emma's awakening as she gazes towards Europe, suggesting a transition into a life defined by her own choices rather than her mother's limitations. Through this poignant exploration of generational dynamics, Gallant reflects on themes of empowerment, disillusionment, and the quest for identity amidst familial constraints.
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Going Ashore by Mavis Gallant
First published: 1956
Type of plot: Social realism
Time of work: The 1950's
Locale: Tangier
Principal Characters:
Mrs. Ellenger , a rich and neurotic young widowEmma , her dutiful but independent teenage daughter
The Story
Mrs. Ellenger and her thirteen-year-old daughter, Emma, are enjoying a winter cruise on the Mediterranean. A widow, Mrs. Ellenger is rich, attractive, and bored. Emma is a quiet but observant child who is disturbed by her mother's depression: Mrs. Ellenger is rude to other people, she smokes and drinks too much, and she constantly reminds Emma of what a lucky girl she is, while bragging to others about how Emma lacks for nothing. What Emma lacks is the magic that should suffuse a trip to exotic places. Instead, she is forced to see things through her mother's jaundiced eyes.
When they arrive at Tangier, the Ellengers are the last to disembark for the mainland, even though Emma can hardly wait to get there. She has even made a tentative date with Eddy, a fatherly bartender on holiday, for lunch in the square. When Eddy shows up, however, Mrs. Ellenger brushes him off and then sits for hours in a sidewalk café drinking, smoking, and reading cheap magazines. Emma is waiting patiently to explore this fabulous town all around them. Mrs. Ellenger finally agrees to look around a bit, and they enter a shop in which she buys Emma an enamel bracelet that is both too expensive and too small. The owner then gives Emma a tiny toy tiger, which, he says, was made by people in the hills and contains magic that can grant her every wish.
Back on the ship, Emma clutches the tiger and makes wishes while her mother converses with a new passenger, Mr. Boyd Oliver. Mrs. Ellenger sends Emma back to the cabin, and she spends the evening with Boyd. When she returns to the cabin, she confesses to Emma that Boyd is married and makes Emma promise never to have anything to do with men. Even so, Mrs. Ellenger plans to see Boyd the next day and requests that Emma address him as "Uncle Boyd," the way she has been trained to address all her mother's male friends. Meanwhile, Emma has been clutching the toy tiger to the point where its paint begins to flake, exposing the "Made in Japan" imprint on its bottom.
Emma is saddened but also emboldened by the events of the afternoon. She senses her mother's pathetic ignorance and resolves not to be victimized by it. First, she decides not to call Mr. Oliver "Uncle Boyd." Then she puts aside the toy tiger. She has loved it for an afternoon but knows there is no magic in it. She makes up her mind to place her hopes in Europe instead. As the ship approaches Gibraltar and Mrs. Ellenger sleeps, Emma watches the shoreline of Europe grow clearer. She feels a tide of newness come in with the salty air and senses the beginning of a new life, totally unlike her mother's.
Bibliography
Canadian Fiction Magazine 28 (1978). Special issue on Mavis Gallant.
Essays in Canadian Writing 42 (Winter, 1990). Special issue on Mavis Gallant.
Gadpaille, Michelle. "Mavis Gallant." In The Canadian Short Story. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.
Grant, Judith Skleton. "Mavis Gallant." In Canadian Writers and Their Works, edited by Robert Lecker, Jack David, and Ellen Quigley. Toronto: ECW Press, 1989.
Keith, William John. "Mavis Gallant." In A Sense of Style: Studies in the Art of Fiction in English-Speaking Canada. Toronto: ECW Press, 1988.
Kulyk Keefer, Janice. Reading Mavis Gallant. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1989.
Schaub, Danielle. Mavis Gallant. New York: Twayne, 1998.
Simmons, Diane. "Remittance Men: Exile and Identity in the Short Stories of Mavis Gallant." In Canadian Women Writing Fiction, edited by Mickey Pearlman. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1993.
Smythe, Karen. Gallant, Munro, and the Poetics of Elegy. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1992.