Both Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat" and Jack London's "To Build a Fire" dive into the naturalistic theme of characters confronting extreme circumstances beyond their control in hostile environments. In "The Open Boat," four men find themselves stranded at sea after their ship sinks, battling against the merciless sea. Similarly, in "To Build a Fire," a lone traveler navigates the unforgiving Yukon wilderness in sub-zero temperatures, facing the relentless power of nature. In both stories, the protagonists' interactions with their surroundings highlight the insignificance of human action against overwhelming forces. In "The Open Boat," the men row tirelessly, trying to reach safety, but they are at the mercy of the indifferent sea. Crane portrays nature as indifferent …show more content…
It seemed to drink the tiny boat and, at the same time, threw the men into the sea.” (London, 77) This discusses the immense condition of the setting that the men are enduring as the author uses the word, “Huge, Angry, and Merciless” to describe the condition of the sea. The author's use of these harsh words enhances the setting and the naturalistic style that the story is presented in. Furthermore, both stories reflect the Naturalistic critique of control by illustrating how characters are victims of forces beyond their control. "The Open Boat," differs from London’s story for the fact that multiple characters are going through this struggle together compared to being alone. The man in “To Build a Fire,” must endure the cold and extreme temperatures alone without having anyone else around. “He remembered the advice of the old man on Sulphur Creek and smiled. The man was very serious when he said that no man should travel alone in that country after 50 below zero. Well, here he was; he had had the accident; he was alone.” (London, 72) The solitary the man encounters throughout his journey intensifies the isolation and vulnerability of his
This passage defines the character of the narrators’ father as an intelligent man who wants a better life for his children, as well as establishes the narrators’ mothers’ stubbornness and strong opposition to change as key elements of the plot.
Stephen Crane’s short story, “The Open Boat” speaks directly to Jack London’s own story, “To Build A Fire” in their applications of naturalism and views on humanity. Both writers are pessimistic in their views of humanity and are acutely aware of the natural world. The representations of their characters show humans who believe that they are strong and can ably survive, but these characters many times overestimate themselves which can lead to an understanding of their own mortality as they face down death.
On August 29th, 2005, Hurricane Katrina, the most expensive hurricane in American history, made landfall in Louisiana with winds of one hundred and twenty-seven miles per hour (“Hurricane Katrina Statistics Fast Facts”). The sheer magnitude of the amount of lives and property lost was enormous, and it was triggered simply by warm ocean waters near the Bahamas ("How Hurricane Katrina Formed"). Nature was indifferent to whether the raging winds and rain would die off in the ocean or wipe out cities; it only follows the rules of physics. A multitude of American authors has attempted to give accounts and interpretations of their encounters with the disinterested machine that is nature. Two authors, Stephen Crane and Henry David Thoreau, had rather contrasting and conflicting interpretations of their own interactions with nature. Crane’s work, “The Open Boat,” is story based on his experience as a survivor
In the short story “ The Open Boat,” by Stephen Crane, Crane does an outstanding job creating descriptive images throughout the entire story. With saying this, Crane uses symbolism along with strong imagery to provide the reader with a fun and exciting story about four guys who 's fight was against nature and themselves. Starting early in the book, Crane creates a story line that has four men in a great amount of trouble in the open waters of the ocean. Going into great detail about natures fierce and powerful body of water, Crane makes it obvious that nature has no empathy for the human race. In this story, Crane shows the continuous fight that the four men have to endure in able to beat natures strongest body of water. It 's not just nature the men have to worry about though, its the ability to work together in order to win this fight against nature. Ultimately, Crane is able to use this story, along with its vast imagery and symbolism to compare the struggle between the human race and all of natures uncertainties.
In “The Open Boat,” the author, Stephen Crane, uses symbols and events to emphasize the fact that we are all alone in life, even if there are people around us. Nobody knows what is going through our minds. Each experience is different, even if they all are looking at the same thing. Just like with the blind men and the elephant, the cook, the correspondent, the captain, and the oiler all are in the boat together, but each one has their own experiences.
Authors’ Steven Crane and Jack London are known for their stories using naturalism, the struggle between man and nature. Naturalism is like realism, but it explores the forces of nature, heredity, and the environment on human beings, who are faced with the forces of nature. Both “The Open Boat” and “To Build a Fire” demonstrate how inferior and small humans’ really are to nature. Humans cannot control nature or determine its outcome. In both stories nature is the antagonist constantly challenging the humans’ ability to survive. I chose the topic over naturalistic elements because I enjoyed reading these stories. Both stories have a strong since of naturalism in it and both authors’ are known for naturalistic features existing in their writings. In this paper I will give you more of an insight to what naturalism is and what naturalistic elements are present in the two stories listed above.
No Bricks and No Temples: Coping with Crisis in “The Open Boat” Stephen Crane’s story “The Open Boat” concerns four people who are trying to reach land after surviving a shipwreck off the Florida coast. During the course of the story, they face dangers that are real physical threats, but they also have to deal with trying to make sense of their situation. The characters in this story cope with their struggles in two ways: individually, they each imagine that Nature, or Fate, or God, is behind their experiences, which allows them to blame some outside force for their struggle, and together, they form a bond of friendship that helps them keep their spirits up. . In “Becoming Interpreters: The Importance of Tone in ‘The Open Boat,’” Gregory Schirmer states that “‘The Open Boat has at its center two quite different views of man: as a helpless and insignificant being adrift in a universe that is wholly indifferent to him and his ambitions, and on the other hand, as part of a brotherhood that binds man to man in the face of that indifferent universe” (222).
The struggle for survival by mankind can be found in many different settings. It can be seen on a battlefield, a hospital room or at sea as related in “The Open Boat”, written in 1897 by Stephen Crane. The story is based on his actual experiences when he survived the sinking of the SS Commodore off the coast of Florida in early 1897. “The Open Boat” is Stephen Crane’s account of life and death at sea told through the use of themes and devices to emphasize the indifference of nature to man’s struggles and the development of mankind’s compassion.
"The Open Boat" intitles four men who have never met but become family to overcome adversity in the rough sea. The cook, oiler, correspondent, and captain all face the same problem, having to find land. As they go through several conflicts along the way, one of them begins to give up. The four men form a strong brotherhood by working together. They realize, as they paddle, that they cannot create a feud because they will never survive. None of the men are related by blood but act as so to get through the dangerous waters. "It would be difficult to describe the subtle brotherhood of the men...each man felt it warm him" (Crane, 342). The men ...
The Open Boat is a particularly interesting story because of the great detail that the author extends and because of the solitary reflections of the characters in consideration of their demise. The story possesses an amazingly vivid description. This attention to detail affords the reader the greatest degree of reading pleasure. Crane paints such glorious images in the reader's mind with his eloquence.
During all of the attempts their spirits and moods went up and down like the waves of the ocean. Through their selfless actions, the undertone of the entire story should now become clearer. Concern for others before oneself is the first element. Staying hopeful for a better future is the second. The last and most import element, the will or determination to survive even in the toughest part of life. Now readers should see how the combination of these tones compassion, hope, and willing to survive creates the mysterious tone of the story. For courage to appear everyone at some particular time or other needs to have compassion for another person, hopeful whenever there is doubt, and always striving to survive even in the severest of times. Courage is the tone not seen until any reader looks deep into oneself. Those four men had courage from the start till the end. Even though Billie died trying to reach the shore he had concern for the rest of them, stayed hopeful, and tried his hardest until the very end. Stephen Crane was the youngest child of his family dropout several colleges yet, “his time had not been wasted” (Stephen), combined each and every tone into a special short story. “The Open Boat” is not only one of his best short stories; “The Open Boat” contains a treasure map. The treasure is not gold, silver, or precious gems. The treasure is Courage. Courage to tackle any and
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 decides that they must try to take the lifeboat as close to shore as possible and then be ready to swim when the surf inevitably turns the boat over and throws the men into the cold sea. As they get closer to land a big wave comes and all the men are thrown into the sea. The lifeboat turns over and the four men must swim into shore. There are rescuers waiting on shore who help the men out of the water. Strangely, as the cook, captain and correspondent reach the shore safely and are helped out of the water, they discover that, somehow, the oiler has drowned after being smashed in the surf by a huge wave. (255-270) “The Open Boat’s” main theme deals with a character’s seemingly insignificant life struggle against nature’s indifference. Crane expresses this theme through a suspenseful tone, creative point of view, and a mix of irony.
“The Open Boat” was written by Stephen Crane in 1897. This is an extremely powerful short story fictionalized by one of Crane’s own experiences out at sea. He is able to use what has happened to him, and spice it up to turn his story into a fictional account everyone can relate to. The reasons this story is so powerful is because of the literary devices Crane uses throughout the story, especially symbolism. In “The Open Boat,” Crane uses the four main characters, the dinghy, the waves, and the sea-weed as symbols to produce a microcosm of society.
Therefore, the incessant troubles arising from human conditions often bring about unpredictable crises as "shipwrecks are apropos of nothing. " The tiny "open boat", which characters desperately cling to, signifies the weak, helpless, and vulnerable conditions of human life since it is deprived of other protection due to the shipwreck. The "open boat" also accentuates the "open suggestion of hopelessness" amid the wild waves of life. The crew of the boat perceive their precarious fate as "preposterous" and "absurd" so much so that they can feel the "tragic" aspect and "coldness of the water. " At this point, the question of why they are forced to be "dragged away" and to "nibble the sacred cheese of life" raises a meaningful issue over life itself.
A number of studies that have been conducted concluded with the fact that school bullying has become a global concern regardless of cultural differences. In light of this fact, there have been few studies that have examined individual factors that affect bullying. The current study that will be discussed attempts to determine the cause of bullying by using three main criminological theories, which are general theory of crime, differential association theory, and general strain theory. Concentration will be placed on the conclusive data found from the use of general strain theory.