Naturalism In Stephen Crane's The Open Boat

Taylor S. Monson, the current President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (“General”), once said “We can’t direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails” (“Thomas”). In Romantic literature during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, authors rejected rationality, glossing over realistic facts of circumstance (“English”). The mid-nineteenth century, however, brought a new style of literature known as Naturalism into popularity (“English”). Naturalism rejects the ideas of divine intervention and instead focuses on scientific observation of life (“Naturalism”). Consequently, many naturalist writers based the plotlines of their works upon events from their own lives. One such author, Stephen Crane, based “The Open Boat” after his experience of the sinking of the SS …show more content…
The sinking of this ship resulted in his being stranded on a boat with three other men, which served as the bases the plotline of “The Open Boat” (Moore). Crane highlights the three subcategories of Naturalism, realism, psychological reactions of characters, and Charles Darwin’s “Survival of the Fittest” theory, throughout “The Open Boat.”
At many points throughout the story, the men on the ship struggle to control and combat the forces of nature. At the beginning of the story, the waves are “barbarously...tall,” which creates a “problem” for the crew in navigating the “small boat” (728). The huge waves cause riding in the boat to be similar to riding “a bucking broncho,” so the sailors cannot control the motion of the boat (728). The waves then increase in strength, becoming comparable to an “outrageously high”