Man Vs. Nature In The Open Boat By Stephen Crane

The battle of the Century Time and time again we see man enter the boxing ring with nature. In most cases nature will triumphantly overcome and destroy man, however, there are situations where man miraculously overcomes nature. In “The Open Boat” by Stephen Crane, four men attempt to find land after their ship has sunken. These men are on a boat that barely fits them, with an ocean that has no end, no food, and no way of finding land. As the great Rocky Balboa once said “Its not about how hard you’re hit, its how hard you can get hit and still move forward”. This metaphoric fight is between the men and nature while the boxing ring is the ocean. With the right amount of strength, luck, and hope there are ways to persevere through situations …show more content…
After not eating for days and being surrounded by water, they are put to the real test to see how well they can keep their composure. Being that they were so close to land several times, they never lost hope. The setting in the story is the most important literary device because it sets the scene and the drama for how the story transpires. The setting itself is what leads into the theme of the story, which is Man vs. Nature. The ocean gives the men many problems such as the leaky boat, giant waves, and bloodthirsty sharks. The most fascinating thing to me was how all the men handled their situation. Being that they were stuck on a small boat for what seemed like eternity, they split up the rowing equally and never presented a disagreement. Their composure was the main reason they stayed alive and what got them to land …show more content…
Although the oiler died before making it to land it’s important to look at the positive because at the end of the day, three men survived an impossible journey. The oiler did not die in vain; in fact he died as a sacrifice for the other three men to continue living. Nature needed to take a victim and it did, thankfully it wasn’t all four men. An amazing lesson and trait was learnt from the story of unity and brotherhood. I think that the only reason the men had gotten to land safely was because of their bond and their trust for one another. Being trapped on a boat with no food, and no certainty of survival can make a man loose his sanity. It was even more astonishing to see how well these men were able to keep their composure. Their unity was their biggest weapon in the battle of man vs. nature. Without unity, all four men would have died a much earlier death. It’s important to understand that these men where dealt a horrible hand by being placed in the middle of the ocean with no food and horrible winds. Yet it’s not about the hand you’re dealt but it is how you play the hand. The men were able to make the best out of their situation, which serves as inspiration to