The Open Boat

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.

Symbolism allows writers to suggest their ideas within a piece of literature. This is found in most types of writing. Stephen Crane expresses this in his short story, The Open Boat. Through symbolism and allegory, it is demonstrated that humans live in a universe that is unconcerned with them. The characters in the story come face to face with this indifference and are nearly overcome by Nature’s lack of concern. This is established in the opening scenes, the “seven mad gods” and in the realization of the dying soldier. The descriptions that Crane uses in the opening scenes illustrate nature’s lack of concern for their tragedy. He discusses the waves in the ocean that continually roll and crest. The waves are problems or

A household is a precious and sensitive system of a group. Everyone has a role and responsibilities and even if someone took a sliver of more than the rest the balance could be broken. In the short-story “The Boat” written by Alistair MacLeod, the mother controls decisions in the house and abuses them even if they are not for the better of the house. She refuses to accept the daughter’s gifts, she discourages her family towards getting a better education and she married their father and pressured him to be a sailor. Though these decisions are what she feels is right, it does not work out for the rest of the family members. The mother’s stubbornness towards change and education caused the state of desperation in the house-hold.

African Americans have been discriminated and were not treated fairly from the beginning of the American colonies up to the 1960s. Their history included about 250 years of slavery followed by another 100 years of discrimination. However, many people state that throughout the 1800s, the whaling industry helped African Americans thrive as a race. In addition, they were treated as equals and could gain glory and wealth from it. In most cases, this is not true because negroes for three main reasons. Almost all African people did not receive high positions on their crew ships. Also, they experienced segregation on ships and were treated not equally. Finally, they were taken for their cheap and hard labor in a dangerous, unrewarding industry. Using internet sources and the novel, In The Heart of The Sea, by Nathaniel Philbrick, African Americans in the whaling industry had low status within crews and faced harsh working conditions as well as discrimination and racism.

What is the meaning of life? According to Chris McCandless living free and not conforming to the natural way of life is the meaning to life, as shown in the book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. Similar to Chris McCandless, Ralph Emerson believes that following your dreams and making your own trail is the meaning of life according to his short story “Self-Reliance” by Ralph Emerson. The purpose of man's existence is to avoid conformity and following one's own instincts and ideas.

In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick, the crew on the Essex was pushed past their limits. The crew’s racism, prejudices, and tolerances effected the journey on the Essex. The crew on the Essex grew together, but sadly throughout the journey many did not make it and the others were forced to do unspeakable things just to try and survive the journey.

What can Man do when faced with a Universe that has no concern for him? Begin to contemplate the belief that man has a role in the universe, that existence should mean something. A feeling of loneliness is conveyed from the understanding that man is alone in the universe and insignificant to the workings of the universe. In “The Open Boat” by Stephen Crane, Crane exemplifies mans insignificance to the universe and nature because ultimately fate decides and fate is an indifferent, uncontrollable, and inevitable force that possesses no consciousness that people can understand. “The Open Boat” reflects Naturalistic ideas, the era in the late nineteenth century when American was growing rapidly and the individual felt

The characters in the story come face to face with this indifference and are nearly overcome by Nature's lack of concern. They survive only through persistence and cooperation. All we have, Crane asserts, in our constant struggle for survival, is “stubborn pride and each other.” When the crew looked for signs to show them that they were not alone in this monstrous dark ocean they found many symbolic objects. The birds sat comfortably in groups, and some in the dingy envied them, for the wrath of the sea was no more to them than it was to a covey of prairie chickens a thousand miles inland."

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

“Open boat” wonderfully showcases a story that has ,multiple themes. However, the most prominent one is addressed with the use of point of view and is as follows: Throughout life, we never fully understand the truth behind something, for we are limited only to our own perceptions.

In the book What’s It All About? by Julian Baggini discusses philosophy and the meaning of life. This reading was able to bring different perspectives on ideas of the meaning of life that I have thought about before. I was also able to learn about these concerns about life 's meaning or meaninglessness in a philosophical standpoint. Some of the chapters that I found interesting included the chapters titled looking for the blueprint, here to help, and becoming a contender.

“The Open Boat” is short tale of endurance, suffering, and redemption. The story focuses on four interesting sailors on a journey towards survival. They try their best to overcome the adversities of the water and raging storm. Crane focuses on the constant struggle of man’s immobility to control his own life. “The Open Boat” is a nonfictional fiction some call it. It typically is argued as only fiction, but many lean toward its nonfictional quality. Crane wrote the story based off his real life experience of a shipwreck he tragically endured. The Commodore, the name of the ship, was the victim of the waves and Crane just so happened to be one of its friends. He wrote 2 articles based on this tragedy, but “The Open Boat” became the best

     What is the meaning of life? Well known Greek philosphers such as Socrates and Plato believed that our purpose in this life was to gain knowledge in preparation for the next life. Other Philosophers such as Epicurus believed that pleasure is the main goal in life. After giving these ideas lots of thought, I have come to my own conclusion that the true meaning of life is far more complex than either of these; far too complex for any human to fully comprehend. In fact these two different philosophies are only part of the grand picture. If it were that easy for men to figure out our lives wouldn't be so messed up now. The meaning of life revolves around many different things. I think

Life is actually mesmerizing adventure and actually have no general meaning. Each and every person has their own meaning of life and it is oneself who renders the meaning of one’s life. Life is an opinion. It’s an idea. It begins with the birth of an individual. One day that body will die, but that opinion or idea brought by that individual is immortal. It persists in this world for many years.

The concept of life itself is quite simple. Biologically the purpose of life is far less open to interpretation, remaining in the general area of keep living and reproduce so to keep life going. However, it is when people try to add significance and value to life that things become convoluted. Why is that? Because one may say that the value of life is one thing, then another may say something else. But which one is right? Both and neither—to put it simply. In that there is neither a wrong nor right way to view life; for it is all a matter of perspective. However, it brings up the question: if the value/ significance of life is a matter of perspective that an individual must interpret and give, could it be that there is no true value/ significance to life? To answer the question bluntly-- no, there is no true value of life, but there are different ways to view life, may it be positive or negative. With those views being influenced by the experiences one has gone through.