306 Crane, Stephen
The sense of community continues the next day
when the captain realizes that they are not likely to
be rescued and they must make a try for the shore.
He maintains his role as leader, telling the men to
jump when the boat swamps and to get clear of the
boat so that it does not injure them. As they make
their way inland, he continues to give calm direc-
tions, calling to the hefty cook to turn over on his
back and use the oar to move his body forward and
to the correspondent to come to the overturned boat
to cling beside him.
The shipwrecked men are soon joined by the
greater community in the form of a man from shore
who strips off his clothing to rescue them. As he
begins to pull the correspondent ashore, the man
points to the oiler lying face-down in the shallows
and asks, “What’s that?” The correspondent tells
him, “Go”—but the oiler has not survived. Instead
of questioning why he has been placed at risk, the
correspondent has learned empathy for his fellow
humans through the danger that brought the four
men together.
Joyce Smith
nature in “The Open Boat”
Shipwrecked off the Florida coast, the four men
in Stephen Crane’s “The Open Boat” must fight
against the natural forces of the sea in their attempt
to get to shore. At the beginning of the story, nature
is completely hostile to the captain, the cook, the
oiler, and the correspondent. To these four men in
a small dinghy, nature is limited to the treacherous
sea and its inhabitants, such as the shark, the gulls,
and the seaweed. These elements of nature all seem
to conspire to keep the men from safety. After a long
and harrowing experience, however, the correspon-
dent comes to a broader view. He learns that nature
can be serene, but that it is “flatly indifferent” to the
struggles of individuals.
Having abandoned their wrecked ship, the men
in the small open boat have a limited view of nature:
They do not even know the color of the sky because
all their efforts are focused on rowing the dinghy,
avoiding life-threatening waves, and keeping water
out of the craft. The sea itself seems intent on their
destruction. The ever-present waves, changing in
color from slate gray to emerald green to black,
are characterized as “barbarously abrupt and tall,”
“snarling,” “formidable,” and “sinister” as they bom-
bard the boat and intimidate the men.
Not only is the sea itself threatening, but so is
the shark that swishes around the boat like a “blue
flame,” a “monstrous knife,” or a “gigantic and keen
projectile,” cutting through the waters while three of
the men attempt to sleep. The correspondent feels
completely alone as the other men seem to be sleep-
ing; only later does he learn that the captain, too, was
awake and aware of the shark. The correspondent
states that he wishes he had known the captain was
awake, indicating that company might have allayed
some of his fear.
Less threatening but perhaps more irritating are
the Canton flannel gulls, who in their comfort pres-
ent a stark contrast to the men. The gulls sit effort-
lessly on the sea, while the men have difficulty even
changing positions in their small vessel. The only
comfort for the men is the “sea-water couch in the
bottom of the boat,” which is miserable in the Janu-
ary cold. Occasionally a gull nears the boat, at one
point threatening to sit on the captain’s head and
inspiring anger and resentment from the men. Not
only the animals but the plants seem hostile to the
shipwrecked men in their desolation, as the “islands”
of seaweed seem to mock them in their enforced
separation from the land.
Crane uses active verbs for the elements of
nature, as it exhibits more power than the men
can. Eventually the men’s viewpoint includes the
land, which begins to “loom” on the horizon and to
“grow” in size as the boat gets nearer to the shore.
The men see the yellow tone of the sky, but the
land soon vanishes, and the correspondent wishes
to strike back when he learns that “nature does not
regard him as important.” When dawn arrives, the
correspondent then notes the “carmine and gold...
painted upon the waters,” and he comes to a new
understanding that nature is indifferent—not cruel,
but “flatly indifferent.”
As the boat capsizes and the four men struggle
to reach shore, even drowning seems to offer a
comfortable alternative, and a wave throws the cor-
respondent over the boat, not against it, in a “true
miracle of the sea.” Instead of being smashed against
the vessel, he is able to make his way safely to shore.