LVII explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Home and Belonging

  The narrator emphasizes the comfort and sense of home upon returning to the Quaker City after the pilgrimage.

• Satire of Tourism

  The narrator satirizes the passengers' initial impatience and later learned ease, as well as the chaotic donkey ride and the poor hotel conditions.

• American vs. European Culture

  Contrasts the American Benton House hotel with Shepherd's Hotel in Cairo, and highlights the rescue of American colonists by a fellow passenger.

Characters to notice

• The Narrator

  Describes the relief of being at sea, goes ashore in Alexandria, rides a donkey, and recounts a hotel experience.

• Jack

  Wears a distinctive costume including buckskin pantaloons and a fez; goes ashore with the narrator in Alexandria.

• Mr. Moses S. Beach

  Pays for the Jaffa colonists to return to Maine.

• Ferguson

  Mentioned in the narrator's recollection of anxieties about the journey.

Key passages

• “It was worth a kingdom to be at sea again. It was a relief to drop all anxiety whatsoever—all questions as to where we should go; how long we should stay; whether it were worth while to go or not; all anxieties about the condition of the horses; all such questions as 'Shall we ever get to water?' 'Shall we ever lunch?' 'Ferguson, how many more million miles have we got to creep under this awful sun before we camp?'”

  Being back at sea felt priceless, freeing us from every worry about our route, duration, horse health, and endless desert travel.

  Highlights the relief of leaving behind the hardships of the overland journey.

• “We took off our blue woollen shirts, our spurs, and heavy boots, our sanguinary revolvers and our buckskin-seated pantaloons, and got shaved and came out in Christian costume once more. All but Jack, who changed all other articles of his dress, but clung to his traveling pantaloons.”

  We shed our rugged travel gear and dressed normally again, except Jack, who kept his buckskin pants.

  Illustrates the contrast between the rough travel attire and civilized shipboard life, with Jack's stubbornness.

• “He said: 'Jack, my boy, you are about to go among a brilliant company of gentlemen and ladies, who are refined and cultivated, and thoroughly accomplished in the manners and customs of good society. Listen to their conversation, study their habits of life, and learn. Be polite and obliging to all, and considerate towards everyone’s opinions, failings and prejudices. Command the just respect of all your fellow-voyagers, even though you fail to win their friendly regard. And Jack—don’t you ever dare, while you live, appear in public on those decks in fair weather, in a costume unbecoming your mother’s drawing-room!'”

  Jack's father advised him to learn from the refined company and always dress appropriately, but Jack later appeared on deck in his buckskin pants and fez.

  Shows the humorous contrast between parental advice and Jack's actual behavior.

• “I believe I would rather ride a donkey than any beast in the world. He goes briskly, he puts on no airs, he is docile, though opinionated. Satan himself could not scare him, and he is convenient—very convenient.”

  The narrator praises donkeys as ideal mounts: fast, unpretentious, stubborn but fearless, and handy.

  Expresses the narrator's fondness for donkeys as practical and amusing animals.

• “Mr. Beach gave his check for the money and so the troubles of the Jaffa colonists were at an end.”

  Mr. Moses S. Beach paid for the Jaffa colonists' passage home, ending their difficulties.

  Highlights a generous act that resolved the colonists' plight.

• “We are stopping at Shepherd’s Hotel, which is the worst on earth except the one I stopped at once in a small town in the United States. It is pleasant to read this sketch in my notebook, now, and know that I can stand Shepherd’s Hotel, sure, because I have been in one just like it in America and survived: I stopped at the Benton House.”

  Shepherd's Hotel is terrible, but the narrator recalls the even worse Benton House in America, which prepared him for it.

  Uses hyperbole and personal experience to criticize both hotels.