Stephen Crane 's The Open Boat

In his poem “The Great Scarf of Birds”, John Updike uses a flock of birds to show that man can be uplifted by observing nature. Updike’s conclusion is lead up to with the beauty of autumn and what a binding spell it has on the two men playing golf. In Updike’s conclusion and throughout the poem, he uses metaphors, similes, and diction to show how nature mesmerizes humans.

The “feathery fire” of the bird may also hint at the war Teasdale references in the following lines, which praise the animals’ obliviousness to the conflict. The fact that “not one/Will care at last when it is done” serves the dual purpose of establishing that the war will indeed end, as all wars do, and that the trifles of humanity are not a worry for the inhabitants of nature. Teasdale admires their ignorance, going so far as to assert that these creatures would not notice the extinction of mankind – which further marginalizes the conflicts we pour so much hatred into.

In Joanna Klein’s, a science journalist, short argumentative essay, “A Birder’s Heaven: Just Follow the Stench to the Landfill”, expresses, some of the best places to see birds are places most humans do not want to go. Klein supports this claim by using humor, situational irony, and overstatements. Klein’s purpose is to expose the irony in nature, exposing the amount of beautiful birds in a landfill. Through the piece, Klein depolopes a a tone of optimistic tone for nature loving adults. She uses this tone to reflect back on the theme by introducing an area many of these nature loving people may not know about.

“Survival is the ability to swim in strange water” (Herbert). Due to the length and complexity of the story written by Stephen Crane, many themes are present. However, the most prevalent theme throughout the story happens to be survival in the brawl between nature and humanity. In order to understand the four characters from “The Open Boat,” one must examine the motivations, strengths, limitations, and conflicts. Each character from the story has their own personality, ideas, and struggles to conquer while battling ferocious waves and obstacles as they attempt to get from dinghy to shore.

​Throughout time, many literature works of art have shown the common theme of man with the mindset that he is the superior being in control. Around the 1830s, literature took a turn from the romantic view of the world to a more natural take of the universe. One of the better portrayals of this naturalistic view is Stephen Crane’s “The Open Boat” in which the short story exhibits the lives of four men cast out at sea after their steamer, the Commodore, sank and they were then forced to take refuge in a life boat. This story follows the men through the focalizing viewpoint of the correspondent and descriptively as well as effectively portrays his psychologically changing viewpoints of the ocean and their take on nature as a whole. This short story is a classic representation of naturalism with the extensive use of literary tools such as personification, metaphors, and similes to convey the message that nature is indifferent to mankind and exhibits the steady-changing viewpoint of the correspondent as the story progresses.

Susan R. Wolf (born 1952) is a moral philosopher who works extensively on the meaning of human life and is the Edna J. Koury Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Wolf addresses the questions of the meaning of life in hope to distinguish the characteristics and reasoning that gives meaning to life. According to Susan Wolf view about the meaning in life, “I would say that meaningful life are lives of active engagement in projects of worth… two key phrases, ‘active engagement’ and ‘projects of worth’” (Wolf, 205). However, I believe that her proposal leaves out our basic motives and reasoning that’s

Society tends to live day to day without much question of their own existence. Humans are born into the world and without second thought begin to live their lives, but there comes a time when individuals begin to question the reason for their being. In Richard Taylor’s, “The Meaning of Life”, Taylor explores the thought that our existence, when viewed externally without our prejudices, is fundamentally pointless. A thorough analysis of Taylor’s ideas will be given to understand the reasoning behind his thoughts, his argument will then be defended from counter arguments that state that the meaning behind any entity’s life could have any alternative meaning.

In “The Meaning of Lives,” Wolf asserts that the question “What is the Meaning of Life?” is inherently unintelligible because it is uncertain what the question is asking. In other words it is too general because it has no specified context. Wolf then acknowledges, however, that there is value in examining the meaningfulness of a life. This is because she observes people wanting meaning as an unchangeable fact. While there is no grand reason for meaning, she suggests that we can create value through what we do in our life. In her work, Wolf constructs a framework on how to obtain meaning in one’s life. I will examine her view, then critically discuss the positive attributes and the shortcomings. Wolf does a sufficient job to outline a possible way to achieve meaning. However, I will argue that a definition for the meaningful life that does not include morality and happiness is not sufficient. Lastly, I will express the subjective and objective tension that weakens her stance.

Judith Wright is an environmentalist! In Judith Wright’s poems, the theme of nature consistently arsis. She puts forward her thoughts of the destructions of native lands through poems including “Sanctuary”. She describes and area of habitation as a sanctuary. She uses the heading as an ironic meaning to make a point on the thoughtlessness of the human endeavour. This “sanctuary” which by definition states “A place which is safe”, has a road passing through leading to a city which stops for nothing in its way” The road beneath the giant oak trees sweeps on and cannot wait..... but has no time to pray” Judith wright uses this road as a metaphor to stand for the animate, inconsistent and brutal force of human conflict with nature” flat skins pinned to the road of possum and native-cats”.

"They then briefly exchanged some addresses and admonition. As for the reflections of the men, there was a great deal of rage in them. Perchance they might be formulated thus: "If I am going to 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 this far and contemplate sand and trees? Was I brought here merely to have my nose dragged away as I was about to nibble the sacred cheese of life? It is preposterous. If this old ninny-woman, Fate, cannot do better than this, she should be deprived of the management of men's fortunes. She is an old hen who knows not her intention. If she has decided to drown me, why did she not do it in the beginning and save me all this trouble. The whole affair is absurd...But, no, she cannot mean to drown me. She dares not drown me. She cannot drown me. Not after all this work.: Afterward the man might have had an impulse to shake his fist at the clouds, "Just you drown me, now, and then hear what I call you!" (Crane 7)

Stephen Crane was a great writer, and studying his work was very intriguing this semester. He taught the class about the naturalism genre of writing and how nature is an uncaring, oblivious force that doesn't recognize man or his troubles. His story, The Open Boat, was really interesting to read and learn the background history for. The fact that Crane took a real event that he had lived through and turned it into a story that teaches the audience about the true essence of humanity and nature. The opening line of the story, "None of them knew the color of the sky" (Crane 990), is telling of the men's predicament. They are so focused on their survival and watching "the waves that swept towards them" that they had little time to consider such

Disgusted, the speaker sees how society has morally degraded itself in exchange for wealth and greed. The frustrated tone of the poem becomes further elevated when the speaker exclaims, "We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!" (4). Blinded by the daily drudgeries of life, people have become impervious to nature, despite some of the grand displays that one can behold. The speaker describes beautiful images of nature such as the sea, howling winds, and flowers that no longer create an emotional response in people. Since the world has become so out of touch with nature, mankind is no longer able to appreciate the drama that takes place between the wind and the moon. Additionally, the speaker claims that society has become so indifferent to nature that, "Little we see in Nature that is ours;" (3).

As you slowly drift downwards, you are still gazing, lost in thought, at the landscape before your eyes. You touch down gently, grateful to feel the earth below your feet. A delicate fog surrounds you. You see a light in front of and up above you. A mighty tower looms before you. Completely solitary, it rises from the landscape like a pillar. It is beautiful and strangely familiar, as if you had been there many times before.

Probably the MVP of questions, "What is the purpose of life?", has come across all human beings thought 's some time or another and for each individual they most likely pondered this topic on many occasions throughout their life 's. Many people find solace in their religions, others look to the ancients and the stars, while some just trust in nature. Maybe within all of these outlooks you can find truths about the meaning of life, but is the meaning or purpose of life the same for each individual person? Within this paper I am going to touch on some viewpoints of some religions, the ancients and nature to aid in the discussion as well as share my views on what the objective of life is.

What is the meaning of life? Almost every human at some point in their life would question themselves about their purpose in the world and why they were placed in the setting they are in and what they feel the need to accomplish in their lifetime. Some create their own personal meaning, others are given their meaning with no insight and lastly, others choose to avoid the real world and create a fantasy life. Although the definition is different from person to person, what is significant in the meaning of life is not only to exist in the world but to achieve our desired goals, have faith on our decisions, and learn about something new.