OK gang, there is a question that has been bothering me since I first saw the film, in December. I haven't been able to come up with a good answer so I'm curious if anyone else has any thoughts on this: what is Rose planning to do with herself between the evening of April 14, the night Jack draws her, and the morning of April 16, Titanic ETA in New York, when she'll get off the ship and go with Jack, (assuming, of course, no iceberg)? She has already put her nude drawing in Cal's safe, along with her little note, which would seem to preclude any further civilized contact with Cal. Ruth will find out, of course, and be scandalized. She can't just hide out; as Cal says at one point, "there are only so many places she can be, Lovejoy. It's a ship." She can't stay in Jack's four man room in steerage. Is she being an impetuous 17 year old and not quite thinking things through? Hmmmm?

-- Thomas Shoebotham (cathytom@ix.netcom.com), February 12, 1998

Answers

Thomas, your last sentences were a crackup! You sounded like Churchlady on Saturday Night Live:) First, a minor correction: ETA in NYC is April 15 not 16. After seeing the way she handled herself in numerous situations--i.e. resorting to smashing open the cage with the axe to save Jack, swimming to the dead officer to use his whistle--I'm sure finding a way to occupy herself that final night would have been a cakewalk. Jack probably would have sat with her on that bench on the stern and they would have dozed off there. Or they would have found some warmer place. Maybe the back seat of a car...

-- Bob Gregorio (rgregori@pacbell.net), February 12, 1998.

Keep in mind that Jack was also locked up on those trump charges! Not only would she have to remove herself from Cal et al., but she'd have to find a way to refute those charges so that the rest of the crew would have believed her! And considering the position of first-class women relative to a first-class man like Cal, that's an uphill task....

ml

-- Mary Lynne Nielsen (m.nielsen@ieee.org), February 12, 1998.

Bob:

It is my understanding that the Titanic's ETA in New York was the morning of April 16th. Ismay and possibly Captain Smith decided during the voyage that things were going well and that it might be possible to get in early, on the night of the 15th, thus beating the Olympic's maiden voyage time and giving the press something to write about (as the movie notes). I don't think many, if any, of the passangers were aware of the possible change of arrival time.

-- Thomas Shoebotham (cathytom@ix.netcom.com), February 12, 1998.

I consulted "James Cameron's Titanic," and it appears we're both wrong about the dates. p.68 (softback): "On Saturday, April 13...Ismay was talking loudly to Capt. Smith about..arriving in NYC on Tuesday nite [16th] instead of Wednesday morning [17th]." But you're right that she would have some time to kill (at least 48 hrs). She probably planned to give them the news the night of the accident, take some personal belongings, and hang out with Jack. These bold acts would still be well within her capability given what she is able to do later.

-- Bob Gregorio (rgregori@pacbell.net), February 12, 1998.

I beleive that this is just a case of the writter and the audience already knowing that there will be nothing past April 14 for the Titanic and therefore not even concidering the posiblity of this.

-- Paul (spam@psnw.com), February 13, 1998.