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Karine Saleck Professor

THE OPEN BOAT by Stephen Crane article by Matthieu Fouilloux

Updated: Apr 29, 2020

“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". Where does this wonderful quote come from you ask? Well this quote showing the strong bond and solidarity of the four men comes from “The Open Boat” by Stephen Crane. To write this short story, he was very inspired by his own, in 1896 Crane went by ship to Cuba. But he never made it. He spent 30 hours in a lifeboat with three other men before arriving it to shore but sadly, of the men drowned during the process. He thus published his story in 1898 based on his traumatic experience and gained immediate success being considered as one of Crane’s best work.

Firstly, I find that in this short story brotherhood is key to their survival as “"If we don't all get ashore—" said the captain. "If we don't all get ashore, I suppose you fellows know where to send news of my finish? They then briefly exchanged some addresses and instructions.” It seems here that men reached peace with death thanks to their solidarity for each other. Furthermore, brotherhood between the four men brings fate not to lose their life to the sea and say in a very rhetorical way “ Was I brought here merely to have my nose dragged away as I was about to taste the holy food of life?”. I can thus say that brotherhood in this short story is very important and might have saved their lives (except for one sadly).

Secondly, the theme of man facing the natural world is very important here as it lets us see that men are nothing compared to mother nature’s strength. “The sea’s roar here dulled, but its tone is nevertheless thundering and huge. As the boat swam over the great waves, the men sat listening to this roar”. The personification of the sea shows that it is a monster ready to eat everything in its passage. I personally felt scared imagining being in a boat stranded in the middle of the sea knowing that my life could be taken because of a monstrously big wave. Moreover, we can also that the theme of man facing the natural world goes beyond nature as “the light in the had strangely disappeared but the wide-awake captain told the correspondent where to go” it seems like this metaphor shows that the four men do not rely on nature but on each other, so in their find against nature even though it is perilous they must rely on each other.

I can thus conclude that, this is a wonderful short story portraying Stephen Crane’s experience in his shipwreck and how brotherhood saved their life. However, being confident of living led to death as we saw with the poor oiler. I really recommend you read this short story as it is vivid in emotions and powerful showing how solidarity saves life.


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