Drowning: The Rescue of Flight 1421

Central to the story is the idea that this rescue operation is a “last-ditch” mission, or one that is not expected to succeed and in which the odds of survival are slim to none. Over the course of the novel, the characters face a slew of challenges from surviving the initial crash to staying alive while awaiting rescue, and their ability to face these challenges illuminates the ways humans react to conflict, persist in the face of impossible odds, and find moments of joy and connection when faced with intense hardship.

Newman consistently draws attention to the dangers of the ocean through the passengers’ struggles to survive and the divers’ risky attempts to rescue them. Unlike the skies, where dangers can be clearly seen, the ocean seems hostile and untamed in comparison. Just as the aircraft is wildly out of place in the ocean’s depths, so too are the humans themselves. Tanner, while approaching the plane, reflects on his first dive, the thrill of “pushing the boundaries of what the human body c[an] do” (129), and the feeling of being able to survive in an environment that should be uninhabitable. Still, this mission pushes the limits of what even professional divers can handle, and the loss of a diver in this scene speaks to these dangers.