The last inch

Understanding the text

Ben was paid by the Commercial Television Stock Company. This company pay one thousand dollar for every five hundred feet of shark film and premiums for special fish films like perches (500 dollar) and hammer-head sharks ( 1000 dollar) so that it is money which is quickly earned. Besides he perhaps liked the danger of his job, so that it was every time for him an adventure trip and perhaps it gave him every time a "kick".

Ben had been away flying most of the time and had never had much contact with Davy so that it was a very good possibility for Ben to see his son and spend as much time as possible. Ben wanted to make a little bit up for the lost time of the last years. Besides he never had took Davy in the water so that his son never was endangered. Nobody could foresee such an exciting end.

a)Ben: He learned how valuable is the own life and grasped the danger of his job. Ben lost because of the shark attacks his left arm and kept back a scarred body. For him the boy is a hero. Since the injury Ben never could fly a plan and practise his old job. All of the time he kept quite to think about the solution of this difficult situation. b)Davy: He was shocked when he saw the injuries of his father and felt perhaps because of these hopeless. Davy had to get over with the happenings and he was perhaps surprised of himself (attended to his father, was flying an aeroplane). Both): For both the journey and the injury were very valuably because they improved the relationship between the father and the son.

After Davy had found his father, he wrapped up the right arm of his father and tied up the left one and the other hurt body-places and because of the very strong bloodings. Then he transported Ben to and in the plane, it was the only possibility for a rescue, and prepared everything for the flight. After that he got the flying instructions by his father and he flow nearly all of the way from the island to Cairo alone. So that Davy rescued his father and him with his courage and the instructions of his father.

Ben told the most of the way: Davy had to follow the coast on the compass course about three hundred and twenty. Davy was able to read the plan in the door pocket where he could see a dessert-crossing road which he only had to follow up to Cairo.

1.) " The last inch " in this story meant the distance between the wheels of the plane and the tarmac while the touchdown. It is very important because if you fly to low the wheels will hit a bump and the plane will go over and if you land out of a to high flying position you will wreck the plane. 2.) The second meaning of "The last inch" can be the last inch in the relationship between Davy and Ben which was jumped over because of the injury. So I would say that you can call now this relationship a really father-son-relationship.

Analysis

Father (Ben): At first, I would say, he was inconsiderate because he let back his son so that Davy was set on his own. The father is in my eves a very dominate man because he did not lost nearly all of the time the control of himself. He was very proud and considerate so that he did not wanted that Davy could see how strong his fathers pains was which why his son had can panicked. Ben tried to calm down his son with jokes and reassuring words. Ben was worried about Davy and that is why he didn't wanted to die because nobody could had found his back left son on such an secluded place. Because of his job you can see that Ben had a big love to adventure and I think too that Ben had a big courage: the dangerous job. Son (Davy): Davy was a very quite person. He was very honest because he said his father how good his legs and arms looked after the shark attack and didn't lied and said they didn't looked not so bad. I think he is very obedient because he did everything what his father ordered him for the rescue. I think that Davy was very intelligent for his age because he could read plans and was a little bit able to handle with the aeroplane. Because of the love to Ben and Davy's age he was very emotional that means he cried sometimes because he witnessed something like that ever ago.

Because of his job Ben couldn't see his son so often and he regretted the lost time. That was why he took Davy on this journey. At first Ben had made directions to his son but after the injury Ben was like a real hero. He wanted to calm down his son with jokes but he saw that Davy was very worried about him and Ben talked to Davy very sensitive and thought about everything what he wanted to say. And so I would say that there was a positive change in the relationship between father and son from the beginning of the story to the end.

Davy was very excited (p.38,l.25:his horrified face peering down) and cried when he saw his bloody and very strong hurt father so that the reader could think that Davy was not able to help Ben. The author wrote that Davy's father had very strong pains which resulted sometimes in unconsciousness so that it seemed that Ben would die in the next moment. Besides Davy had to fly the plane, the first time for him. The father always tried that Davy couldn't see the strong pains because he wanted to avoid that his son will panic. Other facts which affected that the story was very dramatic were the very "dim sky" (p.48,l.29) and the plane which "lurched and bumped" (p.50,l.9) because Davy and Ben had to fly through a dust-storm on their way to Cairo. Sometimes both wept so that it seemed to be hopeless (p.48,l.21: The tearscome down his cheeks..). After that the in my eyes most thrilling part of the story followed: the landing approach. On the tarmac were some big planes which didn't started at first. Nearly in the last moment they left the tarmac so that Davy could started the landing manoeuvre. But now the next difficulty followed: the wind pushed up the plane. Now1 the author described the screwed up face of Davy. Both shouted in their panic so that it was very exciting and Ben was how paralysed (p.52,l.17:he could not speak nor shout nor cry nor sob but simply hang their). Then came the climax the plane: after a short ballon-like land the plane took off it flew for a short moment once more. Then it touched down on the tail and the wheels. Now it happened: the wind hurled the plane around so that it made a ground loop. After this accident there was a "stillness and silence" ( p.52,l.31) but Ben and his son Davy could alive it. The author described everything very precise so that the reader could felt with the actors.

At the very first beginning of the story the author describe the ocean (p.29,l.15:..There was nothing on the surface of the sea) and the landscape (p.29,l.16:there was nothing along the infinite distance of bleached shoreline;l.19:he could see nothing but the bare dessert) in my eyes such a typical island so that you can think that the development of the story will be very boring. But at second sight the reader must notice some ambiguous words and sentence like "the sea swallow his father"(p.29l.11) and the words " a hundred miles from the nearest village"(p.28,l.14) which don't fit in a sentence where the author describe a few moments ago that Davy watch out of the plane and see the water and the white sand. Besides "in the hot silence" and "in the loneliness" (p.29,l.31) Davy could see nothing below surface at all where a few moments ago was bubbles. He was suddenly conscious of and thought about the possibility "what would happen if his father did not come up again". And that's why the reader can already now suppose that the story will end unexpected.

In the later development of the story it becomes more exciting. When Ben swam in the water the first sharks came very near to him up to the moment when one of the sharks attacked him. He was very excited (p.38,l.9:he was terrified, and as he trashed about in pain his blood had already obscuredhis view) and the story became very hectic. The rest at the beginning of the story was absolutely gone. When Davy helped his father he cried sometimes and the reader can't say whether or whether not they will manage it. While the flight, I would say, the story became a little bit quieter because Ben was unconsciousness and Davy did not had any big problems with the plane. But I think that the atmosphere got the most exciting moment while the landing approach: the nervy state of the father and son, the turbulences and natural the last inch which decided between the life and the death of both. But all these exciting moments brought Ben and Davy still closer together than at the beginning.        

After the injury with the shark Ben had very strong pains, so that he sometimes lost his consciousness. So if Ben wanted to move himself it was with all of his strength and with the very strong pains for example in the plane when Davy made the approach Ben lifted himself "inch by inch" or when he gave Davy the instructions for the flight, it was really hard work for him. Everything what he done after the injury was "with effort". But the exercises which Davy had to do were of course "with effort" for example when he pulled up his father the slope to the plane.

3. Comment

In my eyes you can not say who of this both is the really hero of this story. On one hand I would say that Davy is the hero. Because he found his father and did the first aid. He was this one too who took Ben to and in the plane. He was able to flight with his father's instructions the plane nearly without problems. In my opinion it is unbelievable that a ten-years-old boy is able to perform such a fantastic achievement. I think that other children in this age did not kept so cool like Davy, in opposite I would say other children would had run away or cried without helping. I would say too that Davy was very hard in taking because he did not felt sick, he "only" was horrified. If I were Davy I would have been very proud of me because I would not have been so hard. On the other hand Ben could be the hero because he did not showed Davy his very strong pains. Although he lost sometimes his consciousness he always wanted to help his son for example in pulling himself to the plane. He was the person who gave Davy the flying-instructions and encouraged him so that Davy was able to rescue them. Ben tried to calm down Davy when he wanted to panic. Despite of his strong pains he tried to do not loose his consciousness because Davy needed the help of his father. And because of all these facts you can not exactly say who is the real hero of this story. The father and the son did very important things for the rescue, Ben did the most theoretical things and Davy the most practical things. So that every reader must decide for himself who the real hero is. All together I think that Davy is the hero of the story.

Every day people in all parts of the world react superhuman in life dangerous situations. But it is very rare that you hear some of this happenings. A possibility to hear of superhuman reaction are the TV serials on SAT.1 like "really true". One time I had seen an accident of a little child with a crocodile. It was a at noon in the quake mires of Florida. A little boy, I forgot his name, and his family (mother, father, sister) went by bike on a sand road, which went across the swamps. After a longer time he and his sister stopped, they were ahead of their parents. The little boy went to the border of a little sea and threw stones in the water. He didn't noticed that a 2.5 meter long crocodile was swimming strictly to him. Than it happened: the crocodile ran very fast from the water to the boy grabbed at the boy and pulled him in the water. The boy couldn't react so fast. He didn't had any pains in this moment, he didn't thought about anything. His sister, who stood on the road cried very loud. She called all of the time the name of her brother and couldn't believe that he would die in the next mo- ment if nothing would happen. While the crocodile hurled the little boy through the water the parents arrive at the scene of the accident. They were very excited when they saw their son, who fight against the animal for his life. Without much hesitation they jumped into the water. The father clutched his son because the crocodile always tried to pull the boy under the water surface. The mother tried to push open the crocodile's mouth while she kicked it. For all three it seemed to be a long time. But now the crocodile stopped and let the boy go but then it attacked the mother and hurt she on her shoulder. After this last attack the crocodile swam away.

The parents could now transport their son out of the water to the next village where they could call the ambulance. In the hospital the family was told that the son had two broken rips and a chap in his left lung. Besides he kept back big scars on his body like his mother o her shoulder. I think that the reaction of the parents was more superhuman than Davy's reaction in "the last inch" because they risked their own life when they jumped into the water because they could had been hurt stronger by this or other crocodiles. But they had luck and everybody could alive.