Stephen Cranes The Open Boat Essay -- Stephen Crane Open Boat Essays

Stephen Cranes The Open Boat Humanity often tends to see itself as being somehow important in the yard scheme of the Universe. We speak of fate as if we were put here for some reason, or purpose. We have our religions, which often serve as an engine to drive our lives and as a means to give meaning to them. But why do we think of ourselves in such a superior fashion? Do we really outlet at all? Would the Universe stop if we were suddenly taken absent? In his short tarradiddle, The Open Boat, Stephen Crane shows us a Universe completely unconcerned with the affairs of humankind it is an indifferent Universe in which Man has to struggle to survive. The characters in the story come face to face with this indifference and are nearly overcome by Natures 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. The story opens with four men, known simply as the captain, the oiler, the correspondent, and the cook, stranded in the ocean in a small boat. Cranes descriptions in these opening scenes show right away the antagonism of the men and the sea and natures lack of concern for their tragedy The birds sat comfortably in groups, and they were envied by some in the dingey, for the wrath of the sea was no more to them than it was to a covey of prairie chickens a thousand miles inland.(2) The men are in a desperate situation, but nature continues in its way...