The Open Boat Essay, Research Paper

There are more characters than merely the captain, the letter writer, the oiler and the cook in Stephen Crane & # 8217 ; s The Open Boat. There is a 5th character: nature. Nature can be seen as the chief character in the narrative as it is invariably impacting the four work forces in the boat and is ever-present throughout their ordeal. Many different positions of nature are expressed in this work: nature as the causal agent of the full test, as being personified in it & # 8217 ; s action and as being apathetic to the predicaments of adult male.

Nature is the force that drives the action in The Open Boat. The four work forces conflict the moving ridges, the air current and the cold from start to complete in the short narrative. Every page describes the & # 8220 ; wrath of the sea & # 8221 ; ( 398 ) , the strong, ululating air current, the & # 8220 ; cold-sea H2O & # 8221 ; ( 404 ) and how the four brave work forces fight against them to last. Obviously, were nature in a calmer province, none of the events would transpirate. As it is, nature, through it & # 8217 ; s threshing moving ridges and torrential air current, force the four work forces to fight and contend until they can non contend any longer. This conflict against the forces of nature propel the narrative as it goes through seven stages.

Each stage of The Open Boat has it & # 8217 ; s ain esthesia and how nature relates in that regard. The first stage is shortly after the four work forces begin their escapade aboard the dory. Their fright is new and sudden as the crests of moving ridges threaten to drench their over-crowded vas. The full experience is more scaring for the work forces because they have ne’er been & # 8220 ; at sea in a dory & # 8221 ; ( 397 ) and have ne’er felt the strength of nature in such a bantam trade. The moving ridges throw the bantam boat & # 8220 ; like a Equus caballus devising at a fencing outrageously high & # 8221 ; ( 396 ) while the work forces strive to set to their current position. Still, despite their powerful adversary, the crewmans try to stay optimistic and think of ways to stop their terrorization saga. Phase two depicts the work forces & # 8217 ; s optimism fluxing off with every unrelenting moving ridge that threatens to tip their boat and stop their lives. There is still hope in the heads of the isolated work forces as the captain & # 8217 ; s & # 8220 ; dying oculus & # 8221 ; ( 399 ) spots a beacon in the distance that could spell an terminal to the work forces & # 8217 ; s disking trial. The moving ridges and the air current brand for difficult rowing in the 3rd subdivision of the short narrative. The oiler and the letter writer are turning weary from combating the moving ridges for headroom. Dwindling hope is all the work forces are siting on as they approach the life-saving station. A & # 8220 ; quiet sunniness & # 8221 ; ( 401 ) is felt by them at the possibility of stoping their battle with nature, and acquiring off of the & # 8220 ; wild colt of a dory & # 8221 ; ( 401 ) . Hope of an early coating is lost when no 1 comes to salvage them in stage four. Equally good, the four stranded crewmans speak earnestly about the opportunity that they will non all make it through the ordeal and exchange information and references of loved 1s. The work forces head back out to sea to get away the slapping surfs that nature sends at them. They see people on shore and speak about their approaching deliverance but, like the other contemplated rescue, this one is swept off with the air current. The work forces speak a small about submerging and how fate brought them so near to deliverance. The work forces are palling, but nature is non. The moving ridges are still coming, the air current is still blowing and there is no reprieve in sight for the tired, fighting work forces. Nature continues it & # 8217 ; s pummeling in

to phase five. Excessively worked and weary, the oiler and the letter writer return turns rowing while the other slumbers. Nature propels wave upon moving ridge of cold H2O into the boat that leaves the work forces “shaking with the new cold” ( 408 ) . The contemplation that nature may finally crush the work forces is still in the address of the sailors. They felt that it was “an abomonable unfairness to submerge a adult male who had worked so hard..” ( 409 ) and that nature does non see a adult male as of import. Finally, the work forces reach shore. However, after a long swim and turn with the oppressing moving ridges, merely three work forces make it alive. The oiler, who had worked so difficult to guarantee the safety of the others, did non do the swim. Nature had beaten him, but non before he

helped the other work forces. It is evident in this short narrative that nature is a really of import facet, and should be considered a character and non merely as a background environment. Nature is the cause of all the action and plays a outstanding function in every page of The Open Boat.

Nature is personified in this narrative. The captain and the crew usage the personal pronoun? she & # 8217 ; when mentioning to nature. This in itself demonstrates the attitudes that the work forces had for the sea. The moving ridges are said to be & # 8220 ; ferocious, implacable & # 8221 ; ( 413 ) as they move with a & # 8220 ; awful grace & # 8221 ; ( 397 ) to the & # 8220 ; snaping & # 8221 ; ( 397 ) crests. The & # 8220 ; drama of the free sea & # 8221 ; ( 397 ) tests the work forces to maintain their bantam lifeboat afloat long plenty to happen a topographic point to land. When the work forces are contending to swim to shore in the concluding stage of the narrative, the current of the sea is referred to as a & # 8220 ; unusual new enemy & # 8221 ; ( 414 ) . The work forces hear the & # 8220 ; great sea & # 8217 ; s voice & # 8221 ; ( 416 ) in the shutting scene of the narrative. It is obvious that the work forces in the narrative position nature as an entity as they constantly gives it features of animate objects. In The Open Boat, nature plays the greatest function and is given descriptions as if it were alive and responding to it & # 8217 ; s milieus.

Nature is seen as indifferent and uncaring. This goes along with the thought that nature is personified. It is thought to hold actions of animate objects in the narrative and there is an attitude that the work forces attribute to nature that correlates with it. There are frequent references that nature is

uncaring, indifferent and that the tests of one individual do non count in the overall position of the existence. To the work forces, their state of affairs on the boat leads them to believe in this attitude. The moving ridges slap against the little dory unrelentingly despite the concerns or supplications of the work forces involved. This makes the work forces reflect on nature as holding a temperament. It occurs to the work forces that & # 8220 ; nature does non see [ them ] as of import & # 8221 ; ( 409 ) which, of class, angers them. Despite the panic and despair the work forces felt nature remained & # 8220 ; indifferent, categorically apathetic & # 8221 ; ( 412 ) . By showing that nature, as depicted by Stephen Crane, has an attitude, the feeling of nature as a chief character is greatly increased.

In decision, The Open Boat portrays nature as a chief character in the narrative. Many devices are used to climax this reading. Through the many descriptions of nature as a causing of the action and as a changeless force, it is easy interpreted as a primary character in the narrative. The attitude and indifference of nature, as expressed by the crewmans, greatly AIDSs in developing nature as a important character in the short narrative.