
The book begins in 1793, before the first critical battles of the Napoleonic Wars, and Horatio Hornblower, a seventeen-year-old boy unschooled in seafaring and the ways of seamen, is aboard a French merchant ship.


One might say the book is a chronicle of how the seventeen-year-old Hornblower gets his sea legs, literally (he is seasick during his first voyage) and figuratively. Horatio experiences surprising revelations into his capacity as a human being, and as a warrior. Midshipman Hornblower AssignmentOver the course of the book, Hornblower learns about the difference between the morality of the sea and the land, and the need to establish his own set of personal ethics in balance with the rigid hierarchy and code of the navy. The book begins by depicting the harsh life of the navy from the point-of-view of a young boy and ends with a portrait of the potentially great naval warrior, Horatio Hornblower, who has become socialized in this institutions, manners and mores of a new way of life and who has learned of his unexpected gifts as a leader. Midshipman Hornblower is a kind of adventure tale told in a series of self-enclosed chapters, all of these exciting tales are connected by the way in which they paint a picture of the education and maturing of Hornblower, as Horatio gradually grows more assured of his gifts, talents, and abilities as a leader and a sailor. Over the course of the book, Horatio learns, much to his surprise, that he has a talent for leading men, fighting, and even for dispensing justice in an honorable and fair way during the difficult conditions men experience while traveling at sea and in naval battles.

Midshipman Hornblower portrays the education and socialization of a young man, Horatio Hornblower, who is destined to become a great leader upon the high seas for the British navy. How did you learn that you first had a talent for doing something? The C.F. Horatio Hornblower's education in the naval lifestyle: a book review of Mr.
