fighting nature
In Stephen Crane's The Open Boat, Crane uses a personal experience that happened to him to pattern this short story after. Crane's writing style consists of a very prominent use of naturalism. Naturalism is simply the struggle between nature and man, with nature being the most powerful force. In The Open Boat, Crane writes about a sinking boat, therefore placing his characters at nature's mercy. The story line for The Open Boat is based on a true experience Crane had while smuggling guns to Cuba, where he found himself in a dinghy with three other men. Crane uses naturalism to personify nature and to reveal his personal feelings of overwhelming insignificance in the face of nature, and effectively uses color to symbolize their journey.One characteristic of naturalism is the use of personification of nature. Crane humanizes nature many times throughout his story. One example of this is description of the horizon in the opening paragraph (page 859). Crane describes the horizon as almost a living breathing being by stating that it narrowed and widened, dipping and rising. This view of the horizon can be seen as a threat to the passengers. The four men envision the horizon as human-like because it has
The men envied the seagulls freedom of flight and their seemingly mastery of the environment. The correspondent does not understand why he is being kept alive and played with only to be eventually drowned at sea. Crane also uses seagulls to remind the men how much they are under the power of nature (page 861). The characters probably felt as if the waves were going to attack and devour them. Here the men are loosing hope of being rescued after surviving on the open seas this long. The rough sea had toyed with their emotions. Here obviously Crane is making visible the thoughts of the men. The men thought at this point that they would probably die. The men on the dinghy all worked together as a team to defeat nature. This can be seen in the theme of The Open Boat, where four characters are faced with all nature's fury. Crane saw nature as a very powerful thing, not to be overcome. Crane begins the short story by stating that none of them knew the color of the sky but they all knew the color of the sea (page 858). The color gray is synonymous with despair and a dreary feeling of hope. Another example would be the fact that the passengers felt childish and stupid (page 860).
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Acceptance Essays
