“The Open Boat” (1897)
Stephen Crane
Stephen Crane (1871-1900)
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Writer most famous for novel The Red Badge
of Courage (1895), about a young man’s
experience of Civil War
From old American family (since 1600s); son
of Methodist minister
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 Badenweiler,
Germany
The Commodore
Mosquito Inlet Lighthouse/ Dingy
Nature vs. Civilization
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About the indifference of nature and the
necessity for each person to confront that
indifference independently (like London’s “To
Build a Fire”)
About the ability of people to work together to
make meaning (be civilized) despite nature’s
indifference (unlike “To Build a Fire”)
Crane’s technique: the
opening paragraphs
(728-29)
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” (728)
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 (729)
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” (728)
“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” (728)
Cook: “Wouldn't have a show” without on-shore
wind (729)
“they now rode this wild colt of a dingey like circus
men” (732)
Cook with arm around oiler’s shoulders: “they were
the babes of the sea, a grotesque rendering of the
old babes in the wood” (735)
Bucking Bronco
Babes in the Wood
Characters
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Cook: fat; a talker: “Gawd!”; looks at sea (728)
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Cheerful (730)
Irrelevant talk: “what kind of pie” (735)
Oiler: more physical, agile; 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” (733)
Focuses on work; sees least: “all but the oarsman watched
the shore grow” (731)
Characters
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Captain: “mind . . . rooted deep in the timbers” of
sunken ship (728)
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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 (728)
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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 (729):
"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.
Language: Spare & Detached
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“They rowed and they rowed” (730)
“There was a sudden tightening of muscles.
There was some thinking” (732)
“A conference was held in the boat” (738)
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 (73234):
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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
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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?”
(732)
Interpretation: Men & Nature
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In contrast to Sylvia in Jewett’s “A White
Heron,” the men here do not communicate
well with nature:
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“nature does not regard him as important” (736)
(but waves are “important”)
Nature lacks “visible expression” or
“personification” to communicate with (736):
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Gull is an “Ugly brute” as if “made with a jack-knife”
(730)
Shark is a “thing” (736)
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” (738)
“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”
(730)
“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” (738)
“Perhaps an individual must consider his own
death to be the final phenomenon of nature” (739)
Return to Land: Characters
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Oiler: swimming rapidly, “ahead in the race”
(739)—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
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“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” (739)
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”
Men hear “the great sea’s voice” and “they felt
that they could then be interpreters” (740)