Stephen Crane\'s the Open Boat

Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat"

Themes of Nature and Fate in Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat"

In the tradition of Melville, Stephen Crane's short story "Open Boat" tells the story of the sea's might and human kind's comparative weakness. By juxtaposing a lighthearted narrator on a perilous situation, Crane further mimics Melville and other nautical writers, acknowledging both the humor and danger of the sea. His story begins with four men in a dingy after the crash of their steamer, the "Commodore" -- the captain, cook, correspondent, and oiler. The four attempt to find rescue on shore, and on the way they encounter situations that cause the reader to debate between laughter and tears or fear. Like an old married couple whose battles and attempts to become superior take on every form, the cook and the correspondent "argued as to the difference between a life-saving station and a house of refuge" (Crane). While debating issues such as the presence of a crew and the life saving efforts that are waiting there for them, all four members of the small boat express their frustrating that no one on shore has seen them yet, only to increase their fading hopes that anyone is there at all. The crew's perilous journey is both through the waves and furies of the sea and the similarly rocky path between hope and resignation, anger with fate and belief in something greater. In fact, these themes run throughout the story. In fact, unlike a great deal of nautical and nature fiction, Crane's themes of fate and the friction between nature and humanity lead to his ultimate suggestion that humans prevail.

Reminiscent of Melville's Mardi, a novel of the sea that contains many metaphors and outright discussions of fate and Gods, Crane's short story allows readers to glimpse the human on the edge of madness. Crane clearly states that the four shipwreck survivors had not slept or eaten for days. Upon surviving the waves, and learning that the next wind was an "on-shore wind," the captain "chuckled in a way that expressed humor, contempt, tragedy, all in one" (Crane). Though they have not gone mad, the extreme physical deterioration and emotional stress that comes with being on the brink of death have allowed them to look at their lives and their deaths, along with fate, in a sarcastic and scorning light. They are able to poke fun at their own deaths. After his nearly mad chuckle, the captain asks, "Do you think We've got much of a show now boys?" (Crane). In response, "the three were silent, save for a trifle of hemming and hawing. To express any particular optimism at this time they felt to be childish and stupid, but they all doubtless possessed this sense of the situation on their mind." Despite this acknowledgement of their situation, however, "the ethics of their condition was decidedly against any open suggestion of hopelessness" (Crane).

Thus, the four members of the shipwrecked crew are living an existence that forces them into false hope, when all they feel is despair. This utter contradiction is hard enough on their spirits, without the dire conditions of being alone at sea with only a bucket to bail out their water and equally hopeless men for company. In this way, and the way in which the four men will latter expressly address the issue, Crane emphasizes his theme of fate. Not only do the men remain outwardly hopeful about their own fates, while inwardly resigning themselves to the worst, but as time wares on they directly address fate, blaming it for their present condition and the foolishness with which fate has chosen to kill them. The men wondered:

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 rile 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 intentions. If she has decided to drown me, why did she not do it in the beginning and save me all this trouble. The whole affair is absurd...But no, she cannot mean to drown me. She dare not drown me. She cannot drown me. Not after all this work" (Crane).

This narration of the men's musing not only highlight's Crane's theme of fate, but also his theme of nature, and the way in which men are overpowered by nature, expressed as the sea. This primary theme is captured by the fact that the men did not drown simply at the hands of nature, in the shipwreck, but are convinced that they will die at the hands of nature now, when safety is almost within reach. In addition to their expression of anger with Fate, the men acknowledge this when Crane describes them as convincing themselves that "she cannot drown me. Not after all this work" (Crane). In fact, to the men, nature and fate seem much the same. If nature has the power to drown, than she must be contained within the sea. Here, the men feel as if nature is toying with them, allowing them one last glimpse at human society before reminding them that she is superior.