Tragedy of the Titanic essays

Tragedy of the Titanic essays The devastating loss of life on the night of April 14, 1912, caused the unsinkable Titanic to become both a captivating and historic event, which continues to be depicted through books, movies and plays developed from descriptions of the survivors. The Titanic disaster, especially these past few years, ceases to remain silent. It has become an influential topic of interest for society, and the media has captured our fascination with this tragedy making it symbol of "the good old days" (Biel 1). The Titanic was "a lost golden age of order, authority, stable social roles, and codes of behavior" (Biel 1). Jim Beckerman reported that there had been seventeen movies, nineteen documentaries, and over a hundred books and songs made about the Titanic. He also quoted a historical consultant who said, "The Titanic is the key part of our popular culture" (1). On April 12, 1912, the luxurious Titanic was ready to provide accommodations for the rich and new beginnings for the poor in America (McMillan and Lehrer 22). Excitement spread all over England about this "unsinkable ship" through posters and newspaper articles. Her voyage embarked from South Hampton, England to New York (McMillan and Lehrer 6). The Titanic was noteworthy for its extraordinary luxury. It possessed a first class dining saloon with seating for five hundred passengers. In addition, there was an "a la carte" restaurant for smaller private dinner parties. Each room had Jacobean style alcoves with leaded glass windows. In addition, over 127 thousand pieces of tableware, including bone china dinner plates and eight hundred crystal cut glass tumblers lined its closets (McMillan and Lehrer 52). Because of its design and workmanship, problems with the Titanic were not expected. Little did the crew or passengers know that just a gentle graze of an iceberg would be the beginning of the end. After the Titanic had collided with the iceberg, the crew did not expec...