Stephen Crane
Naturalism
“The Open Boat” (1897)
Hao Guilian, Ph,D.
Yunnan Normal University
Sept, 2009
AMERICAN NATURALISM
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When Charles Darwin published
The Descent of Man in 1871, he
challenged the fundamental
beliefs of most people by
asserting that humans and apes
had evolved from a common
ancestor. Many critics of Darwin
misunderstood his theory to mean
that people had descended
directly from apes. This caricature
of Charles Darwin as an ape
appeared in the London Sketch
Book in 1874.
Naturalist Characters

A thoroughly different sense of
character emerges:
- dehumanized
- determined
- moved by inner and outer forces
beyond conscious moral control
American Naturalists
Lacked any sense of common purpose
No self-conscious 'school’
Shared in common an attraction to the
philosophical determinism
This concept that inspired the new narrative
conceptions of setting and character was fully
incorporated in the works of four American
writers - Frank Norris, Stephen Crane,
Theodore Dreiser and Jack London
Stephen Crane (1871-1900)

an American novelist, short story writer,
poet and journalist. Prolific throughout
his short life, he wrote notable works in
the Realist tradition as well as early
examples of American Naturalism and
Impressionism. He is recognized by
modern critics as one of the most
innovative writers of his generation.
Stephen Crane (1871-1900)
Writer most famous for novel The Red Badge of
Courage (1895), about a young man’s
experience of Civil War
The most bleakly nihilistic of the group
Created the most clearly self-conscious body of
work
Early novel, Maggie, A Girl of the Streets (1893),
set in slums of New York; also wrote short
stories and poetry
After Red Badge, became correspondent in
Cuban insurrection, 1897
Stephen Crane (1871-1900)
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Jan. 1897: En route to Cuba, steamer The
Commodore sank off Florida; Crane
published newspaper account and later the
short story “The Open Boat”
1897: Settled in England with Cora Howard,
who had been madam of a brothel in Florida.
Became friend of writer Henry James
1900: Died of tuberculosis in Germany
The Commodore
Nature vs. Civilization

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About the indifference of nature and the
necessity for each person to confront
that indifference independently
About the ability of people to work
together to make meaning (be civilized)
despite nature’s indifference
Crane’s Art
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Naturalism

Realism
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Impressionism

And the stylistic technique of Stephen
Crane is similar to the impressionist
painting, especially in the use of color and
the chiaroscuro.

There is a strong connection in the novel between
humankind and nature, a frequent and prominent concern
in Crane's fiction and poetry throughout his career.
Whereas contemporary writers (Ralph Waldo Emerson,
Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau) focused on a
sympathetic bond on the two elements, Crane wrote from
the perspective that human consciousness distanced
humans from nature. In The Red Badge of Courage, this
distance is paired with a great number of references to
animals, and men with animalistic characteristics: people
"howl", "squawk", "growl", or "snarl".Since the resurgence
of Crane's popularity in the 1920s, The Red Badge of
Courage has been deemed a major American text.
Hemingway once wrote that the novel "is one of the finest
books of our literature, … because it is all as much of a
piece as a great poem is."

“The sun swung steadily up the
sky, and they knew it was broad
day because the color of the sea
changed from slate to emerald
green streaked with amber lights,
and the foam was like tumbling
snow.”
(The Open Boat, paragraph 11)

“The sea and sky were each of
the gray hue of the dawning. Later,
carmine and gold was painted upon
the waters. The morning appeared
finally, in its splendor, with a sky of
pure blue,” (The Open Boat,
paragraph 201)
Claude Monet, Impression,
Sunrise
The works of Stephen Crane
Novel:
 Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (1893)
 The Red Badge of Courage (1895)
 George's Mother (1896)
 The Third Violet (1896)
 Active Service (1899)
 The O'Ruddy (1903)
Maggie: A Girl of the Street
The Red badge of Courage
The Open Boat
Crane’s technique
(pp.104-21)
Perception
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“None of them knew the color of the sky. Their
eyes glanced level, and were fastened upon the
waves that swept toward them” (104)
In the wan light, the faces of the men must
have been gray. Their eyes must have glinted in
strange ways as they gazed steadily astern.
Viewed from a balcony, the whole thing would
doubtlessly have been weirdly picturesque. But
the men in the boat had no time to see it (105)
Simile & Metaphor
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“Many a man ought to have a bath-tub larger
than the boat which here rode upon the sea”
(104)
“A seat in this boat was not unlike a seat upon
a bucking broncho, and, by the same token, a
broncho is not much smaller” (105)
Cook: “Wouldn't have a show” without on-shore
wind (106)
“they now rode this wild colt of a dingey like
circus men” (109)
Bucking Bronco
Characters
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Cook: fat; a talker: “Gawd!”; looks at sea
(104)
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Cheerful (107)
Irrelevant talk: “what kind of pie” (114)
Oiler: more physical, swift; a worker; quiet
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Rows more than anyone else: “And the oiler rowed,
and then the correspondent rowed. Then the oiler
rowed” (111)
Focuses on work; sees least: “all but the oarsman
watched the shore grow” (109)
Characters
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Captain: “mind . . . rooted deep in the timbers”
of sunken ship (104)
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“impression of a scene” (7 faces—the 7 men who died)
Becomes the captain of the dingy—still commands
respect
Correspondent: “wondered why he was there”:
an outsider, a thinker (104)
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based on Crane himself; the main center of
consciousness”
“cynical of men” (730); sarcastic and cursing
Characters
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See conversation at end of section 1 (105):
"Houses of refuge don't have crews," said
the correspondent. "As I understand them,
they are only places where clothes and grub
are stored for the benefit of shipwrecked
people. They don't carry crews."
"Oh, yes, they do," said the cook.
"No, they don't," said the correspondent.
"Well, we're not there yet, anyhow," said
the oiler, in the stern.
Interpretation: Boat & Shore
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Unbridgeable divide between the men
and the shore: men in boat misinterpret
the shore; people on shore misinterpret
the men (111-13):
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"Well, I wish I could make something out
of those signals. What do you suppose he
means?"
"He don't mean anything. He's just
playing."
Interpretation: Boat & Shore

Men’s repeated reflection: “If I am going
to be drowned -- if I am going to be
drowned -- if I am going to be drowned,
why, in the name of the seven mad gods
who rule the sea, was I allowed to come
thus far and contemplate sand and trees?
Was I brought here merely to have my
nose dragged away as I was about to
nibble the sacred cheese of life?” (110)
Interpretation: Men & Nature
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The men here do not communicate well
with nature:
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“nature does not regard him as important” (116)
(but waves are “important”)
Nature lacks “visible expression” or
“personification” to communicate with (116):
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Gull is an “Ugly brute” as if “made with a jack-knife”
(106)
Shark is a “thing” (116)
Interpretation: Men & Nature
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The correspondent finds his own “visible
expression” of nature in the “wind-tower”:
“This tower was a giant, standing with its back to
the plight of the ants. It represented in a degree,
to the correspondent, the serenity of nature amid
the struggles of the individual -- nature in the
wind, and nature in the vision of men. She did
not seem cruel to him, nor beneficent, nor
treacherous, nor wise. But she was indifferent,
flatly indifferent” (118)
“Subtle Brotherhood”
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The men form a community despite
nature’s indifference:
“It would be difficult to describe the
subtle brotherhood of men that was
here established on the seas. No one
said that it was so. No one mentioned it.
But it dwelt in the boat, and each man
felt it warm him” (107)
“Subtle Brotherhood”
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However, brotherhood has limits: each
character must finally face his individual
fate:
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“The correspondent, observing the others,
knew that they were not afraid, but the full
meaning of their glances was shrouded” (118)
“Perhaps an individual must consider his own
death to be the final phenomenon of nature”
(120)
Return to Land: Characters
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Oiler: swimming rapidly, “ahead in the
race” (119)—characteristic: strength
Cook: swims on back—characteristic:
size
Captain: holds onto boat—characteristic:
control of boat
Return to Land: Characters
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Correspondent: “paddled leisurely”;
contemplates shore—characteristic:
thinking, perception

“The shore was set before him like a bit of
scenery on a stage, and he looked at it and
understood with his eyes each detail of it”
(119)
Why does the story have no heroism?
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This is a feature we commonly find in
realism / naturalism stories.
This is to show readers how
insignificant humans are.
To emphasize the greatness of the
universe
Why are there no heroes in this story?
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The only way to survive is to work
together.
There is no particular man that can
fight against the sea.
There are no villains in this story.
Why isn’t the man who appears to
save the crew in the end a hero?

Because the
behavior to save
people is just a
human reaction and
the author doesn’t
portrait it clearly,
that is not hero’s
characteristics.
Conclusion
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Why does the oiler not survive?
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Chance?
Too weak from his self-sacrifice?
Lack of perception, imagination?
Divide between sea and land is bridged
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Land offers “all the remedies sacred to their minds”
(121)
Men hear “the great sea’s voice” and “they felt that
they could then be interpreters” (121)