Antarctic Exploration

[guingel]

So, my new wikisurfing interest has been the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. I'm about to head out so this entry won't be as rife with links as it otherwise would be, but I wanted to quickly note down something that I observed.

I started out interested in learning a big more about Ernest Shackleton, who is pretty freaking awesome and of whom you can all expect an icon soon. But if you know anything about me and you know anything about Antarctic exploration, it should be pretty obvious to you that before I could exhaustively read about Shackleton, i got sidetracked by Robert Falcon Scott, aka Scott of the Antarctic (curiosity partly born from the Monty Python sketch about him) and his ill-fated Terra Nova expedition to the Pole. Five men, including Scott and Edward Wilson, who seems like an interesting guy, reached the South Pole only to be hit by unseasonably harsh weather on the trip back, and all ended up losing their lives. One man died earlier, of injuries - possibly brain injuries from repeated falls on the ice - compounded by the exposure. The rest continued on, hoping to reach supply depots and eventually the camp, but they were travelling too slowly for their supplies to last. One member of the party, Lawrence Oates, had old wounds that were causing him to travel even slower than the rest of the group. Hoping that without him, they would be able to travel more quickly and reach supplies in time, Oates walked into a blizzard, without even putting on his boots because his feet were in such bad condition. According to Scott's diary, he was lucid, and told the others, "I am just going outside and may be some time," before walking into what they all knew was his death.

What I got thinking about, after reading about this, was that I read several articles about him and the expedition and so on, and they all referred to this act as a sacrifice. Then, I read the site about Wilson that I linked to and they referred to it as suicide. I just thought the different choices in words was interesting - it really gives a very different spin on the event. It's obvious to see why "suicide" would normally be avoided in this case, but it's interesting to think about the connotations and how people want to paint his actions.

Anyway, I'm sorry to cut this short but I've got to run. Most of that was retelling the story and very little of it was my actual thoughts. Whoops. Also, sorry for using this icon if it's incredibly tacky. I just liked the tone in this case.

edit, now that I'm not racing for a train: What really struck me, thinking about it, was how differently the two words hit me - I was actually surprised to see it referred to as a suicide, even though that's what it was. So I guess I myself think about the word suicide in a very specific sense - almost so that it doesn't mean technically "end one's own life" but rather more "give up on life" or "not want to live anymore." Since Oates was ending his life not because he didn't want to live but rather because he hoped it would help his companions, it doesn't come across as suicide to me.

I figure the authors normally stayed away from it because it is a more negative term, but also they were possibly just like me and didn't think of it as suicide. He was sacrificing himself, but he was also committing suicide. But the last author was focused not on Oates or on the scope of the journey as a whole - of which Oates' actions are a significant part - but rather specifically on Wilson. Oates' part was not the main focus, so the author is more likely to have used a more simple term, rather than thinking about his actions and what they meant. Like, "Then Oates killed himself. . . ok, I'll write that Oates' committed suicide," rather than "Then Oates walked into the snow to save the rest of the group," which is more likely to lead someone to use the word sacrifice.

Comments

[kegom.livejournal.com]

So, sacrificial suicide? ^-^

The connotations the word "suicide" has are of course very different, depending on your cultural background, so perhaps that's the reason the last article referred to it differently? Though it's just as possible, if not more, that it's actually a kind of - perhaps unintentional - manipulation on the part of most writers, who desperately want to avoid any kind of "negative" connotation that people might have. It definitely is interesting! ^-^


We once learned about the exploration of the antarctis in middle-school; but sadly the only thing I remember about it anymore is that Amundsen was more successful than Scott, because he used a lot of sled-dogs, which could also be eaten in a pinch. ^^"

[guingel.livejournal.com]

Saying "sacrificial suicide" gives it the connotations of a religious sacrifice, which is extremely different from personal sacrifice and doesn't fit here at all.

What really struck me, thinking about it - and I should edit this in, probaly -was how differently the two words hit me - I was actually surprised to see it referred to as a suicide, even though that's what it was. So I guess I myself think about the word suicide in a very specific sense - almost so that it doesn't mean technically "end one's own life" but rather more "give up on life" or "not want to live anymore." Since Oates was ending his life not because he didn't want to live but rather because he hoped it would help his companions, it doesn't come across as suicide to me.

I figured the authors normally stayed away from it because it is a more negative term, but also they were possibly just like me and didn't think of it as suicide. He was sacrificing himself, but he was also committing suicide. I don't think cultural background is likely to have had much to do with it - I'd assume all the authors I'm reading are from pretty similar backgrounds as me and as each other. But the last author was focused not on Oates or on the scope of the journey as a whole - of which Oates' actions are a significant part - but rather specifically on Wilson. Oates' part was not the main focus, so the author is more likely to have used a more simple term, rather than thinking about his actions and what they meant. Like, "Then Oates killed himself. . . ok, I'll write that Oates' committed suicide," rather than "Then Oates walked into the snow to save the rest of the group," which is more likely to lead someone to use the word sacrifice.

Scott did indeed fail to use the most effective methods possible, despite having been advised to by Fridtjof Nansen, an experienced arctic traveller and all-around cool guy. However! There were other factors - Scott had scientific goals in his mission, whereas Amundsen was simply racing towards the pole. In fact, upon discovering Amundsen's camp, Scott considered changing his plans to head towards the pole more quickly and decided not to. So they weren't making the same attempt simply with different equipment. The use of sled-dogs would probably have greatly increased Scott and his party's chances of survival but might not have made a difference in who reached the pole first.

[kegom.livejournal.com]

Saying "sacrificial suicide" gives it the connotations of a religious sacrifice

It does? Well, I guess it does, in general. Personally, it makes me think more of Captain Harlock (there's a crew member in the series who sacrifices his own body so the ship will start again) and "Le Sacre Du Printemps" (which probably does have some religious connotations, but no modern ones). So for me it means a personal sacrifice just as much as a religious one; but I can see your point, most people would probably see it differently.

It's interesting, that the word suicide has such strong connotations to a specific mindset for you!
I guess for me it's a bit different because I usually don't read or hear much about suicides in English, so the word might not have as many connotations for me. (Like the words "shit" or "fuck", for example, which I don't find as offending as their German counterparts.) Though even with the German word, "Selbstmord", I don't connect all that many negative terms. It just means "ending your own life" for me.
I don't know, maybe that is because I don't have the same background as you (I would assume that, as a religious major, you discussed the topic more often and more controversially than I've done, so you might have formed stronger opinions on it because of that), or maybe it's even because in German, there's another word, which actually has a pretty positive connotation: "Freitod", which means "free/voluntary death".

I think most people would feel like you, though, judging from how all the other authors avoided using the word "suicide". It's interesting to see how a cultural opinion on a topic can be seen in such small things as the usage of a word. (Since I assume that, had the authors been Japanese, for example, the term "suicide" would have been used far more freely.)


As I said, I didn't remember anything about the arctic missions, apart from the dog thing. I had even forgotten that Amundsen was at the pole earlier than Scott! ^^"

[guingel.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's just me with my religion background - the two words together make it sound like some sort of religious ritual. Even though, of course, it is indeed a sacrificial suicide, while being a personal sacrifice.

From my understanding of German, Selbstmord sounds sort of. . . more technical? Like, it's easy to see the meaning from the word, I guess? But I think the big difference is probably the way in which I've heard suicide used. It's not necessarily negative, meaning that it's not necessarily always used to make a negative judgement against the person who committed suicide, but it's usually big and dark and scary. Also, I guess the fact that we say "committed suicide" - it's very close in use and sound to "homicide." Maybe that's another difference? American culture definitely attaches a lot of baggage to the word. It's really interesting to hear how different it is in another language! I've always thought (and I'm sure this is a fully-fledged theory that someone has elegantly developed and studied) that differences in the way people can express themselves affects the way they think and thus act. I kind of wanted to study linguistics, actually, but Smith doesn't have a good program.


Hehe, well, I am now full of knowledge of antarctic expeditions, so if you have any questions or ever feel a burning need to know more. . . XD

[karanguni.livejournal.com]

Language is a finnicky thing; I guess that's why a lot of philosophy has major issues with semantics. But you're right, it's a thoughtful spin between the two words.

[guingel.livejournal.com]

Ugh, I've been having so much trouble at work because we're all using different terminology for the same things. It's very frustrating, in general, when people get bogged down over the word used when they understand its intended meaning. In this case, though, there seemed to be a lot of variation in intended meaning! I hadn't realized how much baggage I attached to both words.