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Figurative Language In The Open Boat

Decent Essays

Naturalism is a style and theory of representation based on the accurate description of detail.
Stephan Crane's "The Open Boat" is a good interpretation of naturalism. This story is naturalistic due to the fact these men's lives are controlled by the sea and little mercy is shown.
The sea is breaking the men down to little or nothing and showing their true flaws. In the story
Crane uses imagery, figurative language, and mood to make naturalism more obvious throughout the story.
Crane uses imagery in "The Open Boat" to show multiple perspectives and to give a better visual description of naturalism within the story. In the story Crane uses many examples to show the beauty and depth in his story. When the sun was rising, Crane described the ocean, …show more content…

It had now almost assumed color and appeared like a little gray shadow on the sky." Crane uses this quote and description for imagery to show how grim the situation for the crew is to make us visualize what they are experiencing first hand.
Crane uses figurative language in "The Open Boat" to make nature seem more a 1Be, like a woman out to kill the crew, and to explain naturalism in different orientation. In "The Open
Boat", Crane uses much supported evidence to personify nature to bring in the full experience. In the story when one of the storms rages against the boat, Crane personifies the waves as mountain cats raging against the crew. Crane describes the men's struggle, as the serenity of nature amid the struggles of the individual, which truly means nature is doing what it always does, but the men don't have the peace and respect to signify that. The best evidence of personification and figurative language is, 'Their backbones had become thoroughly used to balancing in the boat and the now rode this wild colt of a dingy like circus men." Crane describes the dinghy like a wild colt with circus men, to show the struggle and intensity the men are having with the …show more content…

By Crane giving the men hope in the story, the mood changes from grim, to a more optimistic outlook for a brief while. Yet the mood changes again when the crew is at open sea. Crane describes the men as fearful when the shark slowly circled the boat for a prolonged amount of time. Crane goes more in depth in this situation by saying, "The presence of this biding thing did not affect the man with the same horror that it would if he had been a picnicker." This means that he had already been so scared of what could and what did happen, that it was impossible for him to become more frightened.
In conclusion by Crane using these three literary devices he brought us into the story mentally and emotionally. By using imagery, Crane showed us the world of open sea survival and the struggles of finding land with no help whatsoever. The way Crane used figurative language was a way to explain the emotions and characteristics of the environment. It made the crews struggles more intense and dignified, so we could experience their pain. Finally, the mood of the story was very powerful and changes drastically. The mood seemed to be controlled by nature, not

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