Short Fiction · Chapter
Sketch Eighth: Norfolk Isle and the Chola Widow explained
The narrator recounts his first visit to the Encantadas, where a sailor spots a white handkerchief waving from Norfolk Isle.
What happens
The narrator recounts his first visit to the Encantadas, where a sailor spots a white handkerchief waving from Norfolk Isle. A boat is sent and rescues Hunilla, a Chola widow who has been stranded for over 180 days after her husband Felipe and brother Truxill died. She survived by collecting dew and tortoises, and her story of solitude and suffering is told with deep sympathy.
Themes in this chapter
Isolation and Alienation
Hunilla's 180 days alone on Norfolk Isle exemplify extreme isolation and the psychological toll of solitude.
Nature and Desolation
The barren, blighted landscape of the Encantadas and the harsh conditions Hunilla endures highlight the theme of nature's desolation.
Fate and Free Will
Hunilla's survival and rescue are portrayed as a narrow chance, with a mysterious presentiment guiding her to the ship just in time.
Characters to notice
- Hunilla
The Chola widow rescued from Norfolk Isle; she survived alone after her husband and brother died.
- The Narrator (Encantadas)
The first-person narrator who visits Norfolk Isle and helps rescue Hunilla.
- The Narrator (Encantadas Sketch Eight)
The narrator who describes the events of Sketch Eighth.
Key passages
“At last they in an island did espy A seemly woman sitting by the shore, That with great sorrow and sad agony Seemed some great misfortune to deplore; And loud to them for succor called evermore.”
The sailors finally saw a woman on the island who appeared to be in deep distress, crying out for help.
Opening epigraph sets the scene of a woman in distress on a remote island.
“Black his eye as the midnight sky. White his neck as the driven snow, Red his cheek as the morning light;— Cold he lies in the ground below. My love is dead, Gone to his deathbed, ys All under the cactus tree.”
A lament for a dead lover, describing his features and his burial under a cactus.
Second epigraph mourns a lost love, foreshadowing Hunilla's widowhood.
“Each lonely scene shall thee restore, For thee the tear be duly shed; Belov’d till life can charm no more, And mourned till Pity’s self be dead.”
Every desolate place will remind you of your loss, and you will be mourned forever.
Third epigraph emphasizes enduring grief and remembrance.
“It was my first visit to the Encantadas. Two days had been spent ashore in hunting tortoises.”
The narrator describes his initial trip to the Galápagos, where they spent two days collecting tortoises.
Sets the context for the narrator's encounter with Hunilla.
“In a half-hour’s time the swift boat returned. It went with six and came with seven; and the seventh was a woman.”
The rescue boat returned with an extra passenger: a woman.
Highlights the dramatic rescue of Hunilla.
“Her story was soon told, and though given in her own strange language was as quickly understood; for our captain, from long trading on the Chilean coast, was well versed in the Spanish.”
Hunilla's story was quickly translated by the captain, who knew Spanish from his trading voyages.
Explains how the crew learned Hunilla's history.