Essay #3: Endurance and the Habits of Mind
Background: When Sir Ernest Shackleton and his crew
members left South Georgia Island on
December 5,1914, they sailed south into the Weddell Sea. Their
destination was Vahsel Bay, where they would disembark the
Endurance and begin their southwest trek across the Antarctic
continent toward the Ross Sea. Shackleton brought 69 Canadian
sledge dogs to aid the expedition’s transcontinental passage, and
he arranged for a separate crew to travel inland from the Ross
Sea to deposit additional supplies he and his crew would use
during their crossing. Everything seemed set. But what
Shackleton and his crew members didn’t anticipate was the
amount of pack ice-solid or broken up ocean ice-that they
would encounter. About a month and a half into their journey,
they found themselves on a very different expedition from the
one they had so carefially planned: The Endurance became
trapped by pack ice, which crushed the ship 10 months later.
This left Shackleton and his 27 men stranded on the ice with
only three lifeboats, limited provisions for food and shelter, and
no hope of rescue. And this was where the story of the
Endurance really began.
Essay Assignment: Write a complete essay in which you
explain what college students can learn from the ways that the
Habits of Minds were demonstrated by Ernest Shackleton and
his crew. You must discuss at least three Habits of Mind
illustrated in the story and provide explanations for the lessons
that college students can learn from seeing those Habits of
Minds displayed in the story.
As you know, your primary concern is to develop a strong thesis and
provide support for your thesis. To help you do so, use information from
the Habits ofMind handout and the novel. You will need to include
examples from the story to completely prove your thesis. That means that
you will have to use quotes and facts from the novel to help support your
discussion. Also, you will have to explain the specific types of things that
college students can learn about “academic survival” by reading this
story.
Writing Tips: Remember that a key component of this essay is to discuss
what college students can learn from reading this book. That means that
you need to give enough examples about college life to illustrate your
pomt.