The Voyage of the Frog

Owen’s sailboat, the Frog, is an essential symbol of David’s adventure and of his growth throughout the novel. The Frog’s role in David’s development is so vital that becomes a character itself, serving as both David’s protector and the object that David works hard to keep safe. At the outset, the Frog becomes a stand-in for David’s uncle, Owen, for it represents Owen’s life even as it memorializes his loss. When David opens the hatch to the boat’s cabin for the first time since Owen’s death, he notices the smell and realizes, “It was the smell of Owen. No. More than that. It was Owen himself. The ghost of Owen. […] David could not tell in his mind where the boat ended and Owen began” (8). Thus, at the beginning of the narrative, the Frog symbolizes David’s experience of Navigating Grief and Loss.

As the novel progresses, however, the Frog comes to symbolize David’s success at Developing Self-Reliance and Survival Skills, for David grows into young adulthood during his time at sea, and the Frog becomes an integral part of his life and new identity. The more time he spends out at sea with the Frog, the deeper the connection that David develops with the boat and with the ocean itself. He regularly notes that the Frog feels alive. He speaks to the boat, referring to it as “she” or “her” and speaking of himself and the boat collectively as “we” and “us.” Thus, David personifies the boat and sees it as the companion of his travels, not just as the vessel he occupies. Eventually, David reflects on the fact that “he could no longer draw a line where he ended and the Frog began” (113). This statement deliberately mirrors the language he initially used to describe the connection between the boat and Uncle Owen, and in this moment, David no longer thinks of the Frog as a symbol of loss; instead, it has become a friend and a part of himself, and it also connects him deeply to the memory of his uncle and to everything that his uncle once loved and valued. Because of this profound internal evolution, it is unthinkable for David to leave the Frog behind when the whaling research vessel attempts to rescue him, for in his mind, such an act would be akin to abandoning an essential part of who he has become.