Naturalism In Mark Twain's The Open Boat

In “The Open Boat”, it is instantly recognizable that the men aboard the dinghy have no control over every aspect their situation. The crew steer the boat and row the oars, however as the men squeeze inside this tiny boat, they fall victim to naturalism. Naturalism says, mother nature is truly in control of the vessel, having no feelings of compassion or hatred towards it. Nature’s divine and uncharismatic power, is seen as nature hurls wave after wave toward the dinghy, sinks the captain’s ship, and the animals held against them. While the four men are in the dinghy, they are constantly hit with the waves of the ocean. Here we see the waves that completely block out the view of the crew, “As each slaty wall of water approached, it shut all else from the view of the men in the boat, and it was not difficult to imagine that this particular wave was the final outburst of the ocean, the last effort of the grim water.” It is in this that the waves swarm the boat, show that nature has no compassion for the men in this boat. For example, “Bail her, cook," said the captain, serenely. "All right, captain," said the cheerful cook.” The cook must bail out the boat of the incoming water every time …show more content…
The first being the gulls that came upon the crew,” Canton flannel gulls flew near and fear…. for the wrath of the sea was no more to them than it was to covey of prairie chickens a thousand miles inland.” These gulls did not have the same difficulty as the men in the dingey, they even give the men a hard time in the boat.” Often they came very close and stared at the men with black bead-like eyes.” However, the birds are not the only ones scrutinizing the crew, a shark also visits the boat. “Neither knew they had bequeathed to the cook the company of another shark, or perhaps the same shark.” The sharks spokes a few men and raises alarm, all the while showing that nature controls what goes on around