The Open Boat By Stephen Crane

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

The book is littered with explanations about fishing. I admit that I frequently got lost in these passages. This knowledge is an important element of the story. When a component of the boat malfunctions, readers know the significance of this to the sailors. Without this, the book would have provided a message that only other sailors could understand. Junger, by supplying this information, wants to make sure that all readers can fully grasp the danger and suspense of the book.

This paper is about the story “The Open Boat” written by Stephen Crane. In this paper, I will try to provide the similarities of the original story with the newspaper account. The differences in each article will also be discussed. Lastly, I will provide a conclusion based on the facts of both articles.

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.

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.

He notes that the crew seemed relieved by the departing Commander and realized that he must come up with a new leadership model to reach his crew. As he noted in the introduction that high percentage of turnover among crew bothered him and he notes some trends in society that contribute to this problem. The long economic boom had made most people unafraid of losing their jobs, or finding new ones. Thus he believed it manager’s challenge to retain them by motivating them to “work with passion, energy, and enthusiasm.” (p.12) By reading over the exit surveys he assumed as many that low pay was a main reason for people leaving, but was shocked when it was in fact 5th. The top four are strikingly similar to the slide we studied in class on “What Associates Want from Their Job” in wanting appreciation, ability to make impact, not being listened to, and more responsibility. This helped him understand his crew better and try to “see the ship through the eyes of the crew.” (p.13) He encouraged his crew to challenge the way in which they carried out their jobs by asking, “Is there a better way to do what you do?” If so, then he wanted them to take the responsibility one their own to implement the change, unless it involved major implications.

“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

In “The Open Boat”, four sailors survive their ship being wrecked and must continually fight to find land and to stay

Lieutenant-Commander Oram can be explained as good leader, even he actually saved only five men although killed 15men. Anyway, every members of the crew include himself were standing in the firing line. Either die or save at least five men with family, the former choice is much better. Also see in “God save our country king, he said and drank.” represents the Captain is self sacrificial

How hard is it to do the right thing? In the article, “The Man in the Water”, many people did the right thing right until the end. “The Man in the Water” takes place in Washington D.C., where there was a blast of winter. It was a chaotic disaster that caught the nation’s attention. In reality, not everyone is willing to be the “good guy”. Everyone have once, thought of themselves more than others but, in this article, not everyone was selfish. Not being selfish, showed heroism and bravery. In the article “The Man in the Water”, Roger Rosenblatt uses conflict and setting to develop moral courage.

Alistair Macleod, a Canadian author, enjoys writing about the Canadian culture in Nova Scotia. He is the author of the novel No Great Mischief and many short stories including The Boat. Both creations of his have a common subject: Culture in Nova Scotia. It is also noted that “Macleod’s short stories are pervasively somber in that they depict a culture that is an gradual loss or erosion of value” (Riegal 133) In his short story, The Boat, the reader senses this mourning of the decline of this culture that comes with the newer generations. The message received in this short story is to never let anyone stop you from doing something you love and the importance of doing what you want to do. This message is important because it allows the reader to realize that if they are not happy they might not have enough time to do anything about it. Through out the story, the reader senses the struggle the narrator has which is to pick between the traditional life of a fisherman and the new life of education. After he was a fisherman along side his father’s he then followed his father’s dream of having an education and became a professor. However, the short story’s narration is nostalgic as if regretting his final decision. The narrator’s lack of connection with a loved one, a loss of culture and his reminiscing of his past experiences with the sea demonstrate this nostalgia.

One of the most interesting points made about the beginning of the play is the analysis of the power dynamics between the Master, boatswain, royal passengers, and mariners. The ship has long been used as a canonical example of drastic inequality between the qualifications of the ruler and the ruled. Just looking at the top sailor’s title—Master—one can quickly see how drastic the rule is. The sort of master-servant relationship is mapped by the master’s rule being based on knowledge of piloting which is in turn taken for granted by those less knowledgeable about the subject. In this interaction, the boatswain serves as the intermediary between the master and mariners. His role is not to be the second in command nor an equal, but sort of the engineer of the boat. Making sure that everything is where it is supposed to be under the orders of the master.

“The Open Boat” follows the trials of four men lost at sea after the sinking of the Steamer the Commodore. The injured captain, the cook, the correspondent, and, the strongest of them, the oiler are tossed about in rough weather trying to make it to land.