Open Boat Naturalism

     Although the men are pitted against an uncaring sea, they still at this point seem to think their destinies are controlled by some outside force. Their collective thoughts are given: 'If I am going to be drowned--if I am going to be drowned--if I am going to be drowned, why, in the name of the seven mad gods who rule the sea, was I allowed to come thus far and contemplate sand and trees?...If this old ninny-woman, Fate, cannot do better than this, she should be deprived of the management of men's fortunes.'(6) It soon dawns on them, though, that there is no 'fate,' no purpose for their being where they are. It is the realization of this fact that brings the men to the brink of despair: 'When it occurs to a man that nature does not regard him as important, he at first wishes to throw bricks at the temple, and he hates deeply the fact that there are no bricks and no temples.'(6) It seems to them that their

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

Naturalism is a literary genre that focuses on how the role of social conditions, family background, and the environment shape the character. Most stories are based on the idea that the environment determines and governs human character (2015). Naturalists depict their characters as having little or no control over their lives, as they are usually removed of their free will by uncontrollable external forces (such as nature) or if they are in a lower class of society. Some characteristics of naturalist writing include determinism, pessimism, indifference to the environment, and survival. Stephen Crane’s The Open Boat is an exemplar of naturalist writing, as it shows most, if not all, of these characteristics.

Naturalism is a literary movement that encapsulates the struggles of the common population. Hamlin Garland presents an excellent example of Naturalist literature in his short story “Under the Lion’s Paw”, published in 1889. In this short story, many of Dr. Stephen doCarmo’s characteristics of Naturalism are visible. Dr. doCarmo describes three broad characteristics of Naturalism: individuals are subjected to larger uncontainable forces, political undertones are prevalent within the work, and the subject matter of the work appeals to the middle-class. “Under the Lion’s Paw” possesses all three of these characteristics and radiates naturalism.

“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

Naturalism is a literary genre that suggests a person’s fate is shaped by their family, environment, and stance in society. Naturalistic authors have taken this school of literature and created their own literary pieces, usually taking an impersonal tone as to not sound judgmental of their character and their situations. One such author is Edith Wharton, in her novel entitled “Ethan Frome”. In her book, she utilizes naturalism in order to depict how Ethan Frome’s environment brought on his unfortunate fate.

The men are in a desperate situation, but nature continues in its ways regardless of what might happen to them. The sun continues to rise and set everyday. The shore is lonely and indifferent. "They are even regarded by a shark, who apparently finds no use for them.” The men, however, seem removed from the clockwork of their surroundings; separate, but somehow in the midst of everything happening around them. This indifference causes the men to feel certain isolation

“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.”

trapped in wild ocean which was windless, nature was continuously showing cruel sight, here we can see the romantic sight of the poem water has been shown so frightened that sailors are dying because of thirst. One day when something was approaching towards them and it came closer Ancient Mariner saw that it was a ship but no one was able to shout because of sunburn and thirst their lips became drier so nature had forced the Mariner to cut his hand so that he could wet his mouth enough to call out for the help from that ship, here we can see dangerous sight of the nature that no one has ever think of it is ultimately leading to death of the sailors.

In Stephen Crane’s, The Open Boat, the short story examines the naturalistic theory that shows the fate of men on their journey and how they struggle to carry on alone and helplessly, this is a perfect literary work that closely looks at their destiny of survival primarily with nature. According to Dictionary.com, Naturalism can be defined as “the view of the world that takes account only of natural elements and forces, excluding the supernatural or spiritual, the belief that all phenomena are covered by laws of science and that all teleological explanations are therefore without value.” Naturalism, philosophically determines the ideas of man and his fate in the universe, throughout this tale the reader can see many of these examples of naturalism,

Naturalism is a theory in writing that focuses on the indifferent characteristics of nature. Naturalism was an extension of the outgrowth of literary realism in the mid 19th century. Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution influenced the thinking of these naturalistic writers. Two authors depict naturalism in their stories heavily. Stephen Crane tells a story about a lifeboat lost at sea in “The Open Boat” and Jack London depicts a man’s trials in the wilderness through “To Build a Fire”.

Over the course of the late nineteenth century, there were two literary movements that could be easily defined as influential and can be pointed to as to have directly contributed to the quality of literature we have today. The two, realism and naturalism were both movements that occurred in American, European and English literature that encompass the feelings of early well-known writers such as Edith Warton, Stephen Crane, Jack London, and of course, perhaps the figurehead of naturalistic literature, Emile Zola. A great number of other early writers utilized this technique, just emphasizing the importance and popularity of it. A large number of these works have been linked as and cited as direct inspiration to certain literature still produced today. There can be many different ways to interpret these works and the author’s intention of what they are trying to portray, so the works can be discussed today as well. Of the two, naturalism is the movement that can be considered a derivative of realism. While the two share some similarities, naturalism is different enough to also be considered an alternative to realism (Norton 10). Naturalism, in contrast to realism, considers forces outside of human control as shaping their environment and as a result, much of their work contains impoverished or otherwise disabled characters that can’t escape their surroundings. Naturalism depicts work that is “scientific, thus truly realistic” (Norton 10) and paints an image of life in urban

Naturalism is an era that was short lived but it impacted a lot of authors. It helped the authors create a fictional meaning to their stories that involved of empathy and different perspective of how humans are viewed. Closely related to Realism, but based on the evolutionary theory of Darwinism, Naturalist contained science into their major works. This places a whole new way for people to read or think. To add to more definition to the term Naturalism, explaining how the authors viewed Naturalism, and exploring the impacting authors and their famous novels, there will be more of a clearer understanding of how Naturalism is different and how it impacted the short years it was around.

Naturalism was a literary movement that took place from the 1880s until the 1940s. It used realism as a mechanism to suggest that social conditions, heredity, and environment had a monumental impact in changing or defining human character. Naturalism exposes the dark areas of life and how they affected people, such as sex, violence, disease, prejudice, abandonment, disease, and even death. Naturalism, in short, is a need to return to the earth. (Williams, 571) A prime example of this literary theory