Question

Read this excerpt from "The Open Boat" by Stephen Crane, and then complete the paragraph that follows. "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 admonitions. As for the reflections of the men, there was a great deal of rage in them. Perchance they might be formulated thus: "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? It is preposterous. If this old ninny-woman, Fate, cannot do better than this, she should be deprived of the management of men's fortunes. She is an old hen who knows not her intention. If she has decided to drown me, why did she not do it in the beginning and save me all this trouble.” . . . In the meantime the oiler rowed, and then the correspondent rowed, and then the oiler rowed. Gray-faced and bowed forward, they mechanically, turn by turn, plied the leaden oars. The form of the light-house had vanished from the southern horizon, but finally a pale star appeared, just lifting from the sea. The streaked saffron in the west passed before the all-merging darkness, and the sea to the east was black. The land had vanished, and was expressed only by the low and drear thunder of the surf. "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?" In Stephen Crane's naturalist story, the repetition of the term "sacred cheese" invokes the idea of . This idea is in keeping with the theme of the story that humans are .

Answer 1

1. The repetition of the term "sacred cheese" invokes the idea of seeming powerless and caught in a trap.
The narrator is complaining about his sad fate to see the land in front of him after his ship was destroyed, but being unable to reach that land and save himself. The sacred cheese is the food that a hungry person sees and wants to have, but something is preventing him from having it, the same way that something is preventing these shipwrecked people from reaching the island and saving themselves from certain death.


2. This idea is in keeping with the theme of the story that humans are subservient to nature's power.
The entire story written by Crane is talking about how people want to control nature, but are ultimately unable to do so because nature is the actual ruler, and not people. People may think they are able to control nature, but in cases such as this one in the story, we can see how we are powerless when faced with nature and all of its glory and strength. It controls are fates and destinies, and it is the one who will decide whether we live or die.