Question

3. Consider Stephen Crane’s story “The Open Boat.” Describe and explain the feelings that the men in the boat have toward nature, fate, and their fellow human beings as they are able to make their way close to land but are unable to reach it and the safety it offers.

Answer 1

First of all, “The Open Boat” by Stephen Crane is a fiction story of a traumatic experience in Crane's life - the ship he rode sank off the coast of Florida, he found himself one of four men in a tiny open dinghy, struggling. The feelings that the men in the boat have towards the nature, fate and other fellow human beings is that the struggle lies in the men’s attempts to help one another survive. 

Answer 2

Answer:

To me, the theme of “The Open Boat” by Stephen Crane is best represented by “d” – Our individual fates are ultimately determined by forces beyond our control. The work begins with a description of how the men do not know the color of the sky because they are (having to be) focused on the choppy, unsafe waters. (Chapter 1, Line 1) In the end they do reach safety and only then, they feel they can be “interpreters.” (Chapter 7, 237) To me, this means that rather than trying to predict and adjust to and control their fate, they are objects of forces of which they have np control. They can only interpret what has happened, rather than control and change what is going to happen.

Explanation: