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

Stephen Cranes The clean Boat Humanity often tends to see itself as being someways important in the grand scheme of the Universe. We speak of fate as if we were cat 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 nub to them. But why do we think of ourselves in such a superior fashion? Do we re eithery matter at all? Would the Universe stop if we were suddenly taken away? In his in short story, The Open Boat, Stephen Crane show ups us a Universe totally blase with the affairs of humankind it is an indifferent Universe in which Man has to beat to survive. The characters in the story come face to face with this indifference and be nearly overcome by Natures lack of disquiet. They survive only through with(predicate) persistence and cooperation. All we have, Crane asserts, in our constant struggle for survival, is stubborn pride--and each(prenominal) other. The story opens with four men, known s imply 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, hardly nature continues in its way...