Mother Nature In Stephen Crane's The Open Boat

“The Open Boat” offers a sense of vulnerability in its setting beginning with the title. “Open” is a powerful choice of word, synonyms are vacant, unsheltered, and unsecured, all sounding quite negative. Both stories are located far away from Man’s comfort zone. London mentions “man’s general weakness” from the start. Through out the two stories, the reader watches the men who begin with so much hope lose it as time progresses. The men in the boat, reflecting on how unfair it would be for them to die after all his hard work personifies nature as a “she” as if he sees nature as a motherly figure who is obligated to care for him. “She dare not drown me. She cannot drown me. Not after all this work.” In “To Build a Fire”, the author compares the dog’s feelings to be closer to the truth than the man’s judgment. The finishing line of “The Open Boat” reads, “When it came night, the white waves paced to and fro in the moonlight, and the wind brought the sound of the great sea’s voice to the men on the shore, and they felt that they could then be interpreters.” It is peaceful and makes the reader question, what is it that the men now understand? One could jump to the conclusion that the men now know the truth that could have saved the foolish man in “To Build a Fire” and the oiler, the truth that the dog and the animals knew all along, and the rest of the men on the boat have now been enlightened with. The men know

The Open Boat, written by Stephen Crane is discusses the journey of four survivors that were involved in a ship wreck. The oiler, the cook, the captain, and the correspondent are the survivors that make onto a dingey and struggle to survive the roaring waves of the ocean. They happen to come across land after being stranded in the ocean for two days and start to feel a sense of hope that they would be rescued anytime soon. They began feeling down as they realize nobody was going to rescue them and make an attempt to reach shore. The story discusses an external conflict of man vs nature to help state clearly the central idea. The central idea of the story conveys man’s success against nature when ones’ abilities are combined together to increase the chances of survival. The use of 3rd person limited omniscience and character analysis helps to explain how the journey of the men’s survival to get out of the ocean and reach shore is able to succeed while Stephen Crane uses symbolism to demonstrate the unity created amongst the survivors.

There is also a shark that is “playing around” near the boat; curiously, it does not seem to even acknowledge their presence. The realization that they have no purpose brings them to the brink of despair. In the beginning of the story, the author describes the “dawn of seven turned faces.” These are faces of the “seven mad gods” who are apathetic towards the men; moreover, they are part of nature. Towards the end of the story, the correspondent recalls a childhood verse that helps him to understand nature’s indifference. Through their experience together, the four men realize that all they have is each other. The correspondent feels sympathy suddenly for a dying soldier, one who does not even exist, “The correspondent, …dreaming…was moved by a profound and perfectly impersonal comprehension. He was sorry for the soldier of the Legion who lay dying in Algiers.” Being in the current situation, the correspondent finally understands the tragedy of the dying soldier. He realizes what it is like to be alone in a cruel world and more importantly, he realizes he does not have to be alone. When he first heard the story, he was also indifferent towards the soldier, just as nature is indifferent towards the rest of the world. He now understands what it is to be human. Crane opens a view of reality that first seems bitter, but in the end, stands as

"The Open Boat'' begins with a description of men aboard a small boat on a rough sea. These men are all survivors of a shipwreck. There is the cook, overweight and sloppily dressed, who is trying to remove water from the bottom of the boat. The oiler, a physically powerful man named Billie who is rowing with one oar. There is

Even though the oiler suffered on his journey on the open boat all of the characters were victims of life’s unfortunate and twisted series of events. These four men have possibly gone through a shipwreck that left them stranded in the middle of the ocean without any tools for survival aside from a small dinghy. This event in itself is unfortunate enough, but for these men it is barley the beginning. They endure rough seas, fatigue and endless rowing alongside several other complications during their desolation at sea. Nearing the end of the story a large and furious wave completely runs

In the story "The Open Boat," by Stephen Crane, Crane uses many literary techniques to convey the stories overall theme. The story is centered on four men: a cook, a correspondent, Billie, an oiler who is the only character named in the story, and a captain. They are stranded in a lifeboat in stormy seas just off the coast of Florida, just after their ship has sunk. Although they can eventually see the shore, the waves are so big that it is too dangerous to try to take the boat in to land. Instead, the men are forced to take the boat further out to sea, where the waves are not quite as big and dangerous. They spend the night in the lifeboat and take turns rowing and then resting. In the morning, the men are weak and exhausted. The captain

In the Open Boat by Stephen Crane, the correspondent’s seems to show a change through his nature of being a cynical man from the beginning of the story to the changed man he becomes toward the end. I believe this change was caused by the brotherhood that was formed between the four men along with the situation of them being lost at sea, which caused him to change and grow as a character. I will support this claim with both textual evidence from the story and my own character analysis of the character.

Jack a bright young man with a future at this point in the reading knew that he was off to no goood, by coming to New York City and thinking that it would be a big opportunity for him. Although he didn’t realize the consequences he would face, he had set high goals but since he was surrounded by negative influences, his goals soon were vanishing and his life going downhill. Jack spoke of his writing and his passion for writing showed quite a lot throughout his book, he wrote wherever he went. Jack said “The remaining pages were wrinkled and stained from water damage. It smelled salty, and bit like diesel fuel. I loved it, and immediately thought it was up to me to record my boat’s history, like so many other sea writers had done. I turned the page, smoothed it out with my hands and got started” page 81. Jack had positives intentions but since he was money hungry he accepted to help negative people that would put him into trouble and his life goals down the drain. It’s interesting to read about Jack Gantos life mistakes because through the mistakes and consequences you learn to redeem yourself, while on the other hand, there is no redemption without

“The Open Boat” is a short story written by Steven Crane about four men stranded on a dinghy after their boat had sunk over night. The men were struggling to stay alive because it seemed as if they had no hope for survival. The four stranded shipmen were a correspondent, an oiler, a cook, and a captain. The theme of the story is that man has no control over his destinies and that nature controls everything. Naturalist themes prevail in Stephen Crane's “The Open Boat” as it demonstrates naturalist literature through the struggle that nature throws at the men. Naturalism arises throughout the men’s constant battle between their surrounding environment and keeping

“The Open Boat” by Stephen Crane is a short story included in The Norton Introduction to Literature. In it, we embark on the journey of four men, whose ship has sunk and are now adrift. The characters fight for survival throughout the whole tale, trying to withstand nature. As the story passes, they realize that nature is indifferent and uncaring. Moreover, they begin to question the existence of God. Ultimately, three of the men survive and one of them dies. Stephen Crane’s “The Open Boat” shows the struggle of men attempting to understand nature and desiring to survive against this invincible and indifferent force. I will analyze literary elements of character, plot, and symbol, using Literary Naturalism to demonstrate this constant conflict between man and nature that plays out in “The Open Boat.”

Realism is famous for the way it illustrates a world that seems real and true. In “A Sweatshop Romance,” Abraham Cahan creates a clear visual of the events that occurred at the coat-making factory owned by Mr. and Mrs. Lipman. Cahan shows the lower class’s working environment and how they interact with each other in a realistic manner. In “The Open Boat” by Stephen Crane, four men are trapped on a lifeboat after their ship sinks. After almost being saved multiple time, the group of men began to lose hope. The end of the story consists of the rescuing of the cook, the correspondent, and the captain while the oiler was found face down in the water. The realistic reactions and events in “The Open Boat” adds truth to the story.

He has the strongest mind of the group and is not easily persuaded. Even though most of his strong will is fueled by pessimism, his will is what keeps him alive in the story until the end. According to Crane, “The oiler, steering with one of the two oars in the boat, sometimes raised himself suddenly to keep clear of water that swirled in over the stern. It was a thin little oar and it seemed often ready to snap” (Crane 6). The oar symbolizes the attitude of Billy Higgins, the oiler, and his steering of the boat symbolizes his intelligence (Crane 6). The oiler seems to be the most realistic character in “The Open Boat”, because he was the character crane specifically based of the actual Billy Higgins. Although Crane wrote the oiler as a fictional character who died swimming to shore, he actually did not know how the real Billy Higgins died. His whole idea of creating this image of the oiler was to make it as life like as possible towards the actual deaths during to sinking of the Commodore (Going).

The oiler represents the worker or common man. The oiler is the character that best relates to the average citizen. He is a very hard worker and takes direction well. He is the only character that does not lose hope of survival although he is only character that does not survive the journey. The oiler represents strength, heroics, and integrity. The oiler keeps the spirits of the rest of the crew up by example. He never stops rowing or pressing forward. He also repeats the captain’s orders which help to establish the social order that existed at the time.

“The Open Boat” follows the trials of four men lost at sea after the sinking of the Steamer the Commodore. The injured captain, the cook, the correspondent, and, the strongest of them, the oiler are tossed about in rough weather trying to make it to land.