Carter is a freelance writer. In this essay, Carter considers the merits of Butler's story from a surrealistic perspective.

Robert Olen Butler's "Titanic Survivors Found in Bermuda Triangle," is, on the surface, a personal account of a narrator whose life has been defined by two equally profound, near-death experiences and the impact these experiences have had in shaping the course of her life and ultimate suicide. From this perspective, it is a rather dismal account. Beneath the surface, however, is a tale of supernatural proportions, punctuated with inconsistencies that suggest Butler's narrative is more than a mere survivor's tale, but a beautiful, surrealistic love story powerful enough to transcend the physicality of space and time.

At the beginning of the story, the narrator recounts the Titanic disaster, including here own feelings and associations. The narrator talks of her heart as "a place ripped open by ice and...