The Open Boat Naturalism Essay

The Open Boat is a story written by Stephen Crane that portrays a main focus of naturalism in the lives of man, and how that nature is portrayed as malicious, through the sources A Man Said to the Universe and I Explain the Silvered Passing of the Ship at Night. Stephen Crane’s The Open Boat considers three stages of quotes in which the men are affected by nature itself; the storm, the survivors, and the rescue. To begin, Crane starts his anecdote with a miraculous life threatening storm. Crane writes in part 1, “A singular disadvantage of the sea lies in the fact that after successfully surmounting one wave you discover that there is another behind it just as important and just as nervously anxious to do something effective in the way of swamping boats.” Crane specifies the …show more content…
First and foremost, A Man Said to the Universe is short and to the point when it considers a conversation with man and nature. Crane writes, “A man said to the universe: “Sir, I exist!” “However,” replied the universe, “The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation.” The complete irony of this passage makes the universe seem almost funny while being completely bitter and malevolent towards the man’s innocent question. Moreover, Crane writes a longer composition being, I Explain the Silvered Passing of the Ship at Night in which love is being compared to the sea where a boat flows upon. In lines 9-13 Crane writes, Remember, thou, oh ship of love, Thou leavest a far waste of waters, And the soft lashing of black waves, For long and in loneliness.” From a personal point of view this can be seen as Crane making the comparison that losing love is much like sailing alone on an empty sea. The sea brings out sadness in the mind of humans and is defined as a part of nature not only malicious, but