Irony In The Open Boat By Stephen Crane

“The Boat” written by Alistair MacLeod tells a story about a father’s life and how he lived as a fisherman. The narrator is an adult man who looks back on his life of when his father was still living because even though he got a university education, he now wants the life his father had. He expresses how his father always wanted him to become something bigger and better then what he became. The author, Alistair MacLeod, used many different writing techniques within this short story. The symbolism of “The Boat” expresses inevitability through the little hobbies the father/husband does through his boring routine life, obligation through the father/husband’s commitment as a fisherman to provide for his family, and imprisonment through his

In the beginning of The Open Boat, the author Stephen Crane displays a wide variety of imagery. The first chapter is about several men who get stranded on a deserted island. While their ship is in the process of crashing into land, Crane describes the cruel waves. "The horizon narrowed and widened, and dipped and rose, and at all times it's edge was jagged with waves that seemed thrust up in points like rocks". With much hesitation, Crane subtly foreshadows the future events.

When the ship went down some of the men were in a group for survival. Then days started to pass

Supererogatory acts go above and beyond the call of duty. Epictetus reflects through many aphorisms in The Handbook about heroism and how to tackle challenges set before you. The documentary Boatlift depicts how many volunteers in extraordinary circumstance banded together and went above the call of duty to rescue those in need on September 11th, 2001. Boatlift is the story of many boating captions that couldn’t stand idly by and watch their fellow man trapped in Manhattan when the city of New York was attacked. Vincent Ardolina justifies his action with, “ A person can’t stand by and watch others suffer.”

Any story that takes place in the middle of the ocean can leave one with the feeling of insignificance. The men fear nothingness, and have a desire to fit somewhere in the universe, where their actions matter in some way. When the correspondent recalls the story of the dead soldier, he begins to fear that he too may die without finding his place in the universe, if any. Eventually he decides that their efforts to survive have no real purpose other than prolonging their own lives, which will, in the grand scheme of things, impact

The men would most likely have died facing the tough obsticals of the San Francisco bay the island was surrounded by. The text clearly states the words “shark infested waters of the bay”. If any kind of struggle like waves would have happened on the boat a shark would probably attempt to eat the men thinking it was some kind of prey in a struggle. The text also states

However, the other boat constantly stayed in front of them and eventually disappeared into the mist that was ahead. This to me symbolizes that sometimes no matter how hard you work for something, you might not be able to obtain it. Sometimes in life you aren't meant to have something that you want. You might work really hard to get a new job and never get it. It could be that you do everything to keep a grandparent alive but they still pass, or maybe it just a grade that you desperately want to raise but do not

Now, with the clear sunlight , the four men finally address their situation. The captain is lying injured in the bow of the boat, and the The rough January sea is tossing the men around the boat, rising high over the gunwales. The oiler and the correspondent are rowing, trying to get to Mosquito Light Inlet, where there is a lifesaving station. As the day goes on, the men become silent. The captain encourages them. “We’ll get ashore all right,” he says. As they row, seabirds fly over them, flying in groups next to them, one even coming close enough to be waved off. The men cuss at it, thinking it is a bad omen, or bad sign. After quite some time of rowing, the captain spots the lighthouse in the horizon. The crew then rigs up a sail , made from the captains jacket, to help them get to shore quicker and easier. They are very tired and sore from rowing all day. As they get closer to the lighthouse, the wind dies down. thus

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

The lighthouse on this island seemed like salvation at the time and they would swim thinking they would be saved. Each man are proof of everything that is dark and evil in this world.

Unknown as what might be ahead all four men embrace the hearty sea at full force working hard to break through the endless waves. The correspondent and the oiler rowed together as the cook bailed out water and the captain laid in the bow of the boat injured but able to give orders. All four men working fiercely, but questioning their fate as they embrace the open ocean in a dinghy described to be as big as a bathtub. “The mind of the master of a vessel is rooted deep in the timbers of her, though he command for a day or a decade; and this caption had on him the stern impression of a scene in the grays of dawn of seven turned faces, and later a stump of a topmast with a white ball on it, that slashed to a fro at the waves, went low and lower, and down.” This expression told from the narrative portrays the caption who is “the mind of the master of the vessel” to be hopeless which has everyone in the dinghy questioning their survival.

Steven Crane really emphasizes the uselessness and the hopelessness they feel against the universe, "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? 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." At this point the men actually made sight to land yet are too far to even make the effort to swim. How could the universe be so unfair that it would let them have a small taste or “nibble of the sacred cheese of life” at surviving? They had been through a drastic environment to get to where they are. If the universe cared about them at all, it would find a way for the men to make it to land, although when it comes

The setting of the story is one example of nature’s determining the fate of the four people on the shipwreck boat. The story opens with the four men struggling for survival by telling the readers, “none of them knew the color of the sky… the men knew the colors of the sea” (shorter seventh edition, 189). This presents the mood of confusion and stress because it shows that they are focusing on their own issues to survive the waves of the ocean as opposed to looking at the clouds and daydreaming. Additionally, the article "Contemplating Sand and Trees in "The Open Boat" and the Odyssey" explains that this quote reflects the uncertainty and loneliness of the situation, as

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

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