# XXV explained — To Cuba and Back

> Chapter companion for To Cuba and Back by Richard Henry Dana Jr..

## What happens

The final chapter of the voyage describes the return to New York, the death of Mr. G⸺, the chaotic arrival at the wharf, a violent confrontation with hackmen, and the dispersal of passengers. The narrator reflects on the contrasts between Cuba and the United States, and the mixed emotions of homecoming.

## Themes in this chapter

### Cultural Contrast Between North and South

The narrator contrasts the orderly expectations of Cuban passengers with the violent, lawless hackmen fight at the New York wharf, highlighting differences in social order.

### Travel as a Lens for Social Critique

The return journey provides a final opportunity for the narrator to critique American society, from the chaos at the dock to the mixed reactions to death aboard ship.

## Character check-ins

### Unknown Narrator

Observes the death of G⸺, the harbor entrance, and the hackmen fight; reflects on patriotism and contrasts with Cuba.

### Mr. G⸺

Dies just before reaching New York; had been brought aboard in Havana and cared for by the purser and second mate.

### Capt. Bullock

Intervenes to quell the hackmen fight; walks the deck with the narrator on a previous night.

### Mr. Rodgers

Jumps into the midst of the hackmen fight, ordering them off the ship.

### The Cahawba

The ship that carries the narrator and passengers back to New York; noted for its silent and sure docking.

### Cubans

Cuban passengers witness the hackmen fight and view it as an insurrection of the lower orders.

### Captain Bullock

Steps down from the wheelhouse to help restore order during the hackmen conflict.

## Key lines

> But death has visited us by night. G⸺ has passed away. He breathed his last before midnight, just as we were on the point of sighting the long wished for shore⁠—the haven where he would be.

Mr. G⸺ died just before midnight, moments before the ship sighted the New York coast, the destination he had longed for.

_Highlights the poignancy of dying so close to home._

> The strangers saw it in a worse light than we did. We knew it was only a lawless fight for fares, and would end in a few blows, and perhaps the loss of a bag or trunk or two. But in their eyes, it looked like an insurrection of the lower orders.

The Cuban passengers interpreted the hackmen brawl as a dangerous uprising, while the narrator saw it as a typical, minor scuffle over fares.

_Illustrates the cultural contrast in perceptions of public disorder._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/to_cuba_and_back_se/chapters/xxv
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/to_cuba_and_back_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/to_cuba_and_back_se/chapters