Mr Midshipman Hornblower

Hornblower

Horatio Hornblower's education in the naval lifestyle: a book review of Mr. Midshipman Hornblower by C.F. Forester (Boston: Back Bay, 1950)

How did you learn that you first had a talent for doing something? The C.F. Forester novel Mr. Midshipman Hornblower portrays the education and socialization of a young man, Horatio Hornblower, who is destined to become a great leader upon the high seas for the British navy. Over the course of the book, Horatio learns, much to his surprise, that he has a talent for leading men, fighting, and even for dispensing justice in an honorable and fair way during the difficult conditions men experience while traveling at sea and in naval battles. Although Mr. Midshipman Hornblower is a kind of adventure tale told in a series of self-enclosed chapters, all of these exciting tales are connected by the way in which they paint a picture of the education and maturing of Hornblower, as Horatio gradually grows more assured of his gifts, talents, and abilities as a leader and a sailor. The book begins by depicting the harsh life of the navy from the point-of-view of a young boy and ends with a portrait of the potentially great naval warrior, Horatio Hornblower, who has become socialized in this institutions, manners and mores of a new way of life and who has learned of his unexpected gifts as a leader.

Over the course of the book, Hornblower learns about the difference between the morality of the sea and the land, and the need to establish his own set of personal ethics in balance with the rigid hierarchy and code of the navy. Horatio experiences surprising revelations into his capacity as a human being, and as a warrior. One might say the book is a chronicle of how the seventeen-year-old Hornblower gets his sea legs, literally (he is seasick during his first voyage) and figuratively. The book begins in 1793, before the first critical battles of the Napoleonic Wars, and Horatio Hornblower, a seventeen-year-old boy unschooled in seafaring and the ways of seamen, is aboard a French merchant ship. A "January gale was roaring up the Channel, blustering loudly, and bearing on its bosom rain squalls whose big drops rattled loudly on the tarpaulin clothing of those among the officers and men whose duties kept them on deck." (p.1) The first shocks of the landlubber protagonist's socialization occurs immediately in Chapter 1, entitled, "Hornblower and the Even Chance." There, an elder sailor, one Mr. Simpson exercises his authority over the other men on deck with a kind of high-handed and blatant injustice that would be unacceptable on land. Horatio, unhappy with his life on deck, grows resentful of the fact that simply because of his position as a senior officer, regardless of his true merit, Simpson is given respect and free reign to do whatever he thinks is necessary on the Justinian. However, the narrative poses the question in the voice of the Justinian's captain that perhaps such a rigid hierarchy is necessary for men to survive at sea, in small and closed quarters, especially on a boat filled with foreign prisoners.

The ultimate lesson of the first installment in the Hornblower saga is that despite this existence of a hierarchy of authority, even at sea some level of human justice is required to gain real respect from one's fellow shipmen, whether one has a title or not. Hornblower, desperate and unhappy with his lot upon the ship, challenges Simpson at a duel. Although Hornblower learns that he cannot deny the need to show respect to all of his fellow officers, Simpson's negative example shows that this respect cannot subvert the basic humanity of all members of the crew. Simpson has respect in his title and ability to fire weapons, but not in the hearts of other men. Hornblower is not imprudent, rather he learns to accede to the "varying demands" of fate, whether at cards or at war, may make upon his "boldness or caution." (p. 19-20) Horatio Hornblower learns to accept the justice of the sea, even if this breaks the letter of the law of the land, and learns not flout naval regulations without cause, although he can make his own quiet judgments. Although his challenge of Simpson is thwarted, Hornblower also learns that it is best to govern by humanity, rather than force alone, as he will when he is a leader. This decision begins to establish Hornblower in the reader's mind as a young man of principle, even though Horatio begins the novel uncertain of his ability to make a life at sea. Horatio resolves not to give up struggling to survive whatever may come his way on the high seas.

This principled attitude becomes even clearer Chapter 3, "Hornblower and the Penalty of Failure." In this chapter Hornblower does not even want to claim credit for the capture of a renegade ship and his freeing of his fellow Englishmen from bondage, as a kind of self-imposed punishment. He is still angry with himself that he was not able recognize that rice ship called the Marie Galante, was sinking, as chronicled in Chapter 2, "Hornblower and the Cargo of Rice." In Chapter 3, the reader learns how a sailor's honor is becoming increasingly important to Hornblower -- but an honor forged in his own mind and heart, as well the rules of war upon the high seas. In Chapter 2, he learns the importance of diligence and care, as well as an excitable temperament is necessary to succeed at sea -- diligence about the care of a ship, and using the adrenaline and excitement in the heat of battle to think of quick solutions, like setting the ship afire when he and his fellow crew members are taken prisoners of war by the French in Chapter 3. Again, a balance is called for -- between obedience and personal pride, moderation and hotheadedness -- when one is at sea.

The specific balance between personal and military ethics is intensified in Chapter 4. Chapter 4 is entitled "Hornblower and the Man Who Felt Queer," Hornblower must face a terrible quandary when he must kill an epileptic out of "his duty." (p. 108) Hornblower must weigh, in a utilitarian fashion, the success of his ship's mission with the value of the individual man's life. Hornblower learns once again that he must balance his heart and head, his personal sense of justice with the collective ethos of the sea. His fellow sailors respect his decision -- ironically even more so than Hornblower himself. The author C.F. Forester softens the harshness of this young man's action by noting that Hornblower is the only man who regrets the death of the epileptic or "queer" feeling sailor. Horatio learns the harshness and loneliness of making difficult leadership decisions -- and he cannot even morally commiserate with his fellow officers. Later, Hornblower in Chapter 5 "The Man who Saw God," will further gain an education in difficult persons at sea, as he must motivate his fellow officer Finch through a series of tricks to win a decisive victory during a battle with a French vessel. "God's there, go along to God, Finch," he cries to the wild-eyed Finch. (p.137)

Chapter 6 entitled "Hornblower, the Frogs and the Lobsters" provides an interesting historical portrait of the age in which Hornblower lived, and an important reminder of how national rivalries were divided during the time -- the French, villains at the beginning of the book are now the British allies. Hornblower is more willing to deal with the French than many of his fellow Britons. The chapter shows how many of the British leaders, by virtue of their position in the navy, which is a fighting force and therefore partisan in its nature, were not 'above' the prejudices of their time and found it difficult to cope with the fact that the French were suddenly allies to the British after they had first encountered Frenchman as enemies or prisoners. Hornblower learns the value of flexibility during times of war. Also, since this chapter shows Hornblower upon the land once again, it also underlines how Hornblower, after so long at sea, is uncomfortable with the ways that persons relate to one another away from a ship.

In this chapter, Hornblower also learns how life at sea does not always prepare a man for the politics and etiquette of life on land. At the very end of the book, Hornblower will reflect that he has come to prefer "the companionship of the sea," to the friendship of human creatures of either the land or sea. (p. 283) This new divide within Hornblower's soul shows that C.F. Forester is not averse to presenting an uncomfortable picture of Hornblower's socialization from time to time. For example, in Chapter 7, "Hornblower and the Spanish Galleys," Hornblower allows that his success at arms is partially due to his ability to think quickly and move quickly like an "animal" in a state of "fighting madness" or "sheer insanity" rather than by virtue of human compassion. (Although he also credits "good fortune" as well as his own prowess, showing how he has become more modest with age and wisdom.