Well, some of the indirect big ideas the author is writing about is woman discrimination and inequality. In Charlotte Doyle, Charlotte always dressed like a grown lady. She wore white gloves, polished flats, a well ironed dress and had perfect hair. She only dressed like that because that's the way women were expected to dress back then in the olden days. That's because women weren't exactly equal to other people. Back then, if you saw a woman wearing a suit and tie, it would be considered strange. Now-a-days, if you saw a 7th grader wearing a fancy dress, white gloves and polished shoes that spoke with very good grammar, we would consider it strange, just like they would consider it strange back then. In the book, they are being addressed when the crew and Captain Jaggery see Charlotte in a sailors outfit, when she is asking to join the crew, (because that's a man's job -_-) and when she cut her hair short and in a bad way. There is also inequality. Captain Jaggery treats his crew like they are his servants, (which they are not.) He treats them as if he is the King of England and they are just people working on a boat. If Captain Jaggery was the King of England and they are people are working on the boat, then he is treating them as if they don't deserve to live. In the book, they are being addressed when Captain Jaggery works the crew too hard, when Captain Jaggery beats the crew if they are bad and when Captain Jaggery doesn't care about them at all.
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Hagrid
6/9/2013 03:35:19 am
You make some good observations. I agree that discrimination and inequality are big ideas that are being explored in this novel.
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cynthia
6/15/2013 10:49:33 am
I completely agree with you!
The captain even said charlotte had the choice of putting her dress back on and apologizing to him in front of the crew, and then he would take her back. It was charlottes choice on what she wore and did with her hair, yet the captain, her mother and father hated it and made her go back to being a lady. Everyone expected girls to be ladies and never go near a mens work.
The captain definitely acted like the king of England. He never had the right to shoot cranick, accuse charlotte or whip zachariah. The way he acted was more of a bully than a ships captain.
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Mother Paula
6/9/2013 02:22:27 am
I think the idea that the author was giving was the abuse of power that Captain Jaggery had over the crew. This is related to the abuse of power that some governments have over certain country's. How they use fear to make sure that the country doesn't uprise against them just like how Captain Jaggery use guns to scare the crew. Also how Captain Jaggery tipped the tides of the court case in his favore is like how some country's use the media to covers up a lot of bad things about the government
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Hagrid
6/9/2013 03:36:07 am
You make some good connections. I agree that abuse of power is a big idea that is being explored in this novel.
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Cookie Monster
6/16/2013 04:02:18 am
Yes, definetly, Captain Jaggery was completely wrong by abusing his power against his crew. I really liked how the author fit this idea into the story. I also liked the way she used the idea. It flowed naturally into the story lines.
Taylorgomez143
6/9/2013 06:00:25 am
As well as being intriguing,this book has many hidden ideas.
1- women are just as capable as men.the crew was all made up of men, yet a woman was the one who saved everyone.
2)- avi wanted to show us that dictatorship isnt the answer. Captain jaggery used dictatorship, but it only backfired and made the crew hate him.
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Roy(DB)
6/9/2013 12:03:41 pm
I like your first point that stated that women are just as capable as men because i had never thought of this book in that perspective. Great Point.
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Roy(DB)
6/9/2013 12:02:37 pm
Abuse is the main point that should be received from this book because Captain Jaggery was a dictator and he abused the crew members.
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Talena
6/9/2013 02:08:01 pm
Some of the big ideas in The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle are that you should never rule as a dictator to earn more power, it will only backfire on you. Another big idea was that woman can do anything that men can do.
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Ms.Kraziie(;
11/18/2013 02:01:05 am
i agreed wif you..there should not be inequality in this world..women can do the same nd even better]
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RRSB
6/10/2013 02:32:31 pm
I think one big point was that no matter who you are, boy or girl, you are as capable do to anything as the next person. Also I found that even though you act all mean and hurt people and think nothing will ever happen to you, your wrong because theres always people trying to do things that are right and you will soon fall apart. (Basically I'm saying that being part of a dictatorship will not last and soon crumble into what you thought you had control over, will take control over you.)
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Annie
6/12/2013 10:05:22 am
I think many different ideas were explored in this novel, but there are some main ones that really stick out to me.
1) Except the unexpected. When Charlotte boarded the ship, she expected to be accompanied by two other families and to be sailing with a fine captain and a clean, comforting room. Instead, she boarded the Seahawk alone, with a murderous captain and a filthy room with less than sanitary accommodations. She thought Captain Jaggery was a nice man who would protect her from the crew, but it turned out he was a ruthless man and the crew ended up protecting her from Captain Jaggery. Both people and events turned out to be different than what you would expect them to be and that is why this book was so intriguing. Life can be this way to when you think one thing is going to happen but another does instead and you have to be ready and on your toes in order to adjust to the changes that occur.
2) Fight back and stand up for yourself. This is expressed when the Cranick had been tortured and the crew wants justice so they decide to perform mutiny against Jaggery. They are also tired of their living conditions and amount of work. When that does not work (Jaggery finds out, kills Cranick, whips Zachariah), the crew do not stop and in fact devise another plan to make Jaggery pay for what he has done. They plan to keep Zachariah in the brig and then have him alert the authorities when they dock in Rhode Island, which only goes to show how much commitment and respect they have for themselves and for each other not to let Captain Jaggery get away with any more crimes. When Jaggery tries to make Charlotte fail, causing her to abandon the crew, she instead stands up for herself and does something that all the crew members have been afraid to do. Charlotte calls him names and says mean, but true, things about him. She purposefully defies him to infuriate and weaken him because she is not going to let him have all the power. She even stands up to her family when she leaves as she doesn’t want them to push her around and tell her what to do anymore. Charlotte and the crew don’t accept certain things and instead of just obeying, they fight back and that is very admirable. In reality, people should not back down and fight for themselves and what they believe in like Charlotte and the crew did.
3) Work to earn your spot. The crew must work tirelessly in order to be allowed aboard the ship, so they actually do work and get by that way. They do all the manual labour on board and earn a little bit of money, but a lot of respect from each other. Captain Jaggery barely does any work at all and in fact works against his crew, but must be obeyed and respected. He does not earn his spot as captain, but the crew definitely earn their spots on the ship. Charlotte had to climb to the royal yard in order to be accepted into the crew. She wasn’t just allowed in because she was Charlotte Doyle and her father was the employer; she actually had to work for it and therefore felt good about herself afterwards. In order to truly earn something, you have to put some sort of work into earning it, whether it’s physical or mental. Without the effort being put in, you don’t actually earn what is given to you. Some people are like this and don’t do work to earn anything when they just sail by on someone else’s coattails, while others work hard for what they get.
I agree with some of the other postings above, but I wanted to post different ones myself instead of repeating the same ones. Other ones I agree with are discrimination and abuse of power. I chose ideas that applied to the entire book and multiple characters, but were also new and have not been mentioned by other people.
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QWERTY
6/12/2013 10:39:27 am
The big ideas explored in this novel were:
1) It does not matter if you are a girl, you can still do whatever you want to do, and you should not get harassed about it.
2) Abuse is not the answer. It does not matter if a sailor is a very low class person, you should simply talk it out and you will not have any problems, like Jaggery did at the end.
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Sherlock Holmes
6/13/2013 05:07:15 am
That's a good point about the sailor's being low class people. Captain Jaggery thinks that since the sailors are working for him, they are disgusting and they don't matter. Captain Jaggery thinks he has full power and control over the sailors, but that's not true. He doesn't have complete power over them; it's called freedom of speech, the sailors can say whatever they want and stand up to Captain Jaggery. Captain Jaggery must have started out as a low class person at first, he didn't just become a captain of a ship overnight. The sailors on the Seahawk actually seemed like nice people when Charlotte got to know them. Captain Jaggery just doesn't realize that violence is not the answer, the sailors are fairly nice people, he doesn't have to hurt or abuse them to get them to work, he can just talk to them like a civil person would. The sailors can be civil people and talk things out too.
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$UPERMAN
6/12/2013 11:05:38 am
The big ideas that were explored in this novel are:
1) Everyone is equal, it doesn't matter if you are a girl or boy. You can do the same as the opposite gender.
2) Dictatorship is wrong and in the end, it will never workout.
3) Being physical won't fix anything, it will not fix any problems.
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Cookie Monster
6/16/2013 03:59:37 am
I understand number 1 and 2, but can you elaborate a little more on number 3.
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Luno
6/14/2013 10:06:59 am
A big point they are trying to show is that all people are equal no matter what you look like or what gender you are. ( i know this point was stated many time but it is a very important part of the book) Another point is justice cause in the book it was stated many time as Charlotte saying it many times to couple of people on the ship and Jaggery saying there is no justice and so on. Abuse of others is one cause Captain Jaggery treated all crew members as a lower life form or a non equal and thought of him as the supreme ruler. Also how he mistreats all the dare cross him so he stays on the top of the whole pack and dominated the ship cause of everyone sacred of him.
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Chuck E. Muckle
6/15/2013 05:53:06 am
One main idea when it comes to the big ideas and messages sent from Charlotte Doyle is that: Government and other political events are not always fair and are actually sometimes rigged or toyed with. When Charlotte was pulled into the court for being accused of commithing a murder and Captain Jaggery was not allowing her to speak, scared the life out of the jury and anyone who could help her be found innocent, then eventually calling her guilty is when this message went to me because it showed that people like Jaggery, who are allowed lots of power, are able to toy with the sum of the court since he has the power and cleverness to do so even if he was the actual murderer of Hollybrass, he is still able to call another person guilty.
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Cookie Monster
6/16/2013 03:58:26 am
There are many good ideas that the author brought up in the book, and here are some of them:
1) stand up for yourself and don't back down- Charlotte finally took the guts to stand up for herself and the crew against Captain Jaggerry. But she never backed down unitl she won her rebellion against him.
2) the good side will always win, no matter how long it takes- Captain Jaggery (the bad side) ruled the crew for a long time, but in the end Charlotte and the crew (the good side) won
3) dictatorship will always end at some point- Jaggery was a cruel dictator, but he was defeated eventually (ex.Hitler)
4)we are all the same- Charlotte was a little girl but showed her capabilities by joining the crew and becoming the captain. -she was no different than a anyone else on the boat
5) violence is never the answer- by killing crew members Jaggery only made the problem worse