The Open Boat Presentation

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The Open Boat by Stephen Crane

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Four men trapped in a dingy . They are the captain, the oiler, the correspondent, and the cook. The captain is injured and the oiler's name is Billy.

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The story is set in January off the coast of Florida

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The four men are in a dingy because they were shipwrecked at sea. They see land and believe that some people are going to come save them because of the light house that they see. After a day passes, they see people on the shore of the land they saw on the second day, with a man waving his coat around as some type of signal. They worry that they will drown and die at sea. They spend a night in the sea, while a shark swims around their boat. They have to get close to the shore without wrecking the dingy and then swim to shore. The man who waved his coat swims out to them and takes them back to shore and they all survive except the oiler.

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Themes of this story relate to naturalism. Survival is perhaps the biggest theme in the story, because the men's search for land in order to live drives the story. Pessimistic views are also used in the story, especially when the men talk about their worries of drowning and dying at sea. A quote from the story that exemplifies this is, "During this dismal night, it may be remarked that a man would conclude that it was really the intention of the seven mad gods to drown him despite the abominable injustice of it."

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Determinism also drives the story, as the men have to reach the land in order to survive. Violence is a part of the story as well, as the sea is described as extremely violent. The animals, like the sharks and the seagulls, are also seen as violent.

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This story also has other characteristics of naturalism. The story is not very idealized and accurately depicts the scene of these four men's experience after the shipwreck. Humans are also not seen as very important and nature is seen as indifferent towards the human. A quote to exemplify this is, "...it occurs to a man that nature does not regard him as important..." The environment's role on humans is shown in the story. The shipwreck is what causes the men to be in the dingy together to survive. The oiler dies because he drowns, which would not have happened if the shipwreck had not occurred.

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The characters are not of the upper class; they were in the working class on the ship. They also had conflicting emotions: they wanted to live to get home to their families and at the same time they wanted to die because the struggle to survive and find land was so tough.

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The criticism I read explores whether "The Open Boat" is fiction based on real life or nonfiction. It could be exactly what happened or based on what happened when Crane was in a shipwreck in 1897. There is speculation because the piece was published very soon after the shipwreck. It was also published with "Stephen Crane's Own Story" and "Flanagan and His Short Filibustering Adventure" that also describe the shipwreck. The criticism that I read argues that the piece is nonfiction, not just based on real life.

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My response to this piece was of surprise because the oiler died, when of all of the men, I expected the injured captain to die. I wanted to find out what happened on the land after they got there and found the oiler dead, but sadly that was not included.

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The piece is definitely naturalism, with lots of description of what happens on the dingy. After reading the criticism, I agree that it is non-fiction.