The Open Boat

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

"The Boat" by Alistair MacLeod is the story told from the perspective of university teacher looking back on his life. The narrator relates the first memories of his life until his father's death. The story focuses on the conflicting relation between the mother and the father, and their different perspectives on how their children should lead their lives. MacLeod uses features of setting to present the tension between tradition and freedom.

The Open Boat by Stephen Crane is a story describing four men that are trapped together in a small boat or dingy. The men aboard the boat are a captain, a correspondent, an oiler, and a cook. The men were aboard a larger boat that crashed off the coast of Florida and are now searching for the safety of a light house they remember. After making a homemade sail and some brisk paddling they finally get near the coast. They spot some people and begin to signal for help but the people only respond with friendly waves. The tide is much too strong to swim to shore so they paddle back out to sea a ways and wait for it to calm. While waiting they get approached by a shark. The large fish circles in such a way that death searches for the

     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

“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 is a tragic tale by Stephen Crane of four men contemplating what seems like their inevitable death. This paragraph above serves as a quality passage on its own and as an interesting part of the entire story as the author repeats it often. The text is a beautiful paragraph, perhaps the most flowery writing in the entire work. Lines such as "to nibble the sacred cheese of life" and "name of the seven mad gods who

“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

The four men in The Open Boat have no control over their situation as nature controls their story. This is shown in the first lines of the story: “None of them knew the color of the sky. Their eyes glanced level, and were fastened upon the waves that swept them.” (Crane p. 584). The first few sentences just say that the four men can’t see the sky since the waves splash into them. Crane sets the scene of this bleak tale by giving the reader a setting that is the complete opposite of a serene, nice, day out on the water. It shows that the crew’s lives are only going to go downhill from there.

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

Adrienne Rich’s poem “Diving into the Wreck” is a detailed piece written in free verse that discusses the emotional journey of her narrator as she sails out into sea to scuba dive and try to uncover a myth that she once read in a book. The narrator uses a detached tone while explaining her dive beneath the sea to show a constant image of lonesomeness and a clear focus of the actions of humanity. In doing so, she creates a feeling of isolation while discovering the wreck she originally came to find as well as an internal journey we soon come to find out.

The short story “The Boat” by Alistair MacLeod is narrated by a man who comes from a fishing family. His mother’s side of the family has forever lived and worked by the sea and continues this tradition. The narrator’s father always wanted to be an academic, but worked on the boat to support his family. Through this passage it is evident that the parents’ characters clash in many aspects of their lives and are in constant conflict. MacLeod demonstrates this through the use of repetition, the contrast in other unrelated ideas, and through information that is withheld.

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

“The Open Boat” opens with a captivating line, “None of them knew the color of the sky.” None of the men know the color of the sky because they are so determined to survive. Crane automatically sets the scene for this story by telling us there’s nothing appealing about one fighting for their life. “The Open Boat” is a short story written by Steven Crane about four men stranded on a dinghy after their boat had sunk overnight. The four stranded men in this story were a correspondent, an oiler, a cook and a captain. The men were having trouble staying alive because at first, they had no hope for survival. Naturalist themes occur in Stephen Crane's “The Open Boat” as it shows the struggle that nature throws at the men and their chance for survival. Naturalism's main belief, is that individual human beings are at the mercy of uncontrollable larger forces that originate both within and outside them. The only way the men were able to survive was perseverance, because the apathetic universe did not care what their outcomes were.  “The Open Boat” does well at representing naturalism and how the men get presented the changes and roughness nature approaches them with.

“Can you please tell me where the captain is?” The young man pointed towards the starboard side, the upper deck, avoiding further engagement. Our ears attend on the crackling of the planks we walked on. Sudden pops in the hull made me reconsider our choice of vessel.