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Wandering Through Chapter 2 - Pages 17 - 22


Chapter 2 - page 17


camaraderie, steerage, Captain's table

"We are like the passengers of a great liner the moment after rescue from shipwreck when camaraderie, joyousness and democracy pervade the vessel from steerage to Captain's table." 1
Big Book - There Is A Solution - page 17

In this sentence the words camaraderie and steerage both functions as nouns. The phrase "Captain's table" functions as a noun phrase. 2

Camaraderie is the mutual trust and friendship that forms among people who spend a lot of time together.

On passenger ships the least expensive ticket was steerage class. The steerage passenger accommodations were the least desirable and many times steerage passengers could not mix with passengers purchasing higher class tickets.

The captain's table was the table that the ship's captain dined at. Traditionally the Captain would invite guests to take meals with him at his table, which would be considered an honor. These guests would typically holders of the most expensive class of ticket. 3

Bill is stating that because all the passengers share an escape from disaster; the common experience has united them and made them equal, regardless of the place each holds in society.

Definitions from Webster's 1930 edition. 4

Webster's definition of camaraderie
Webster's definition of steerage
Photo of Steerage Passengers on ship in 1907
The middle-class passengers on the upper deck, are looking down on steerage passengers below.
Photo by Alfred Stieglitz - 1907 on the ship Kaiser Wilhelm II
Public Domain, Wikimedia.

peril, cement, binds

"The feeling of having shared in a common peril is one element in the powerful cement which binds us." 1
Big Book - There Is A Solution - page 17

In this sentence the word peril and cement function as nouns. In the sentence binds functions as a verb. 2

Definitions from Webster's 1930 edition. 4

Webster's definition of peril
Webster's definition of cement
Photo of Bookbinnery - binding pages
Binding Pages To Make Books
Book bindery in Detroit - 1902
Public Domain from Library of Congress

   
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Footnotes for page 17

1Quotes from the Big Book on listed on this page are from the public domain version, in the United States, of the 2nd edition of the book Alcoholics Anonymous. Accessible at 12step.org

2Sentence diagramming, to determine the word usage within the sentence, was performed by CoreNLP at corenlp.run.

3Wiktionary entry for captain's table.

4Definitions used are from the Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language 1930 Edition. Access to this dictionary online is at Hathitrust.org