Symbolism Although Stephen Crane\'s \"The

Symbolism

Although Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat" is a short story, and Adrienne Rich's "Diving into the Wreck" is a poem, these two pieces of literature share many thematic and symbolic elements in common. The open ocean is the common motif in these two works. Both "The Open Boat" and "Diving into the Wreck" also contain similar symbols related to the sea and the human being's relation to water. For example, imagery of drowning vs. surviving in the ocean is explored with symbols like boats, and the darkness of the deep sea. In Stephen Crane's the "The Open Boat," symbolism is used to describe the conflict between humans and nature, whereas in Adrienne Rich's poem "Diving into the Wreck," symbolism is used to describe harmony between humans and nature.

In "The Open Boat," the boat is the only means by which the human beings can survive, as they must stay afloat; but in "Diving into the Wreck," on the other hand, the boat is now a wreck at the bottom of the sea. Because of the grave struggles that the captain and his crew encounter in Crane's short story, the boat in "The Open Boat" is much like the wreck at the bottom of the sea in Rich's poem. A boat, which is the human attempt to control or manage nature, is not necessarily enough to sustain human life. However, human beings must struggle to stay alive within their environment, however hostile it might be.

Drowning is another symbol in "The Open Boat" and "Diving into the Wreck." For the narrator in Rich's poem "Diving into the Wreck," diving equipment provides the means to stay alive under water. SCUBA gear is designed to allow the human being to breathe under water, which is impossible without the cumbersome equipment. Therefore, the diving equipment is itself a symbol in Rich's poem, and absent in Crane's short story. The crew in "The Open Boat" confronted the idea and distinct possibility of drowning every single moment. Yet even the diver in "Diving into the Wreck" is keenly aware that he or she is separated from death by very little. The symbolism of the equipment suggests the tenuous hold on life that a human being has when confronted with the magnificence of the sea. "The drowned face always staring," and "the drowned face sleeps with open eyes" are lines in Rich's poem that correspond with the symbol of drowning as death in Crane's "The Open Boat." The symbol of drowning is that of respect for nature and especially for the power of the ocean over human life.

Darkness is another symbol shared in common by these two works of literature. Although Rich's poem has a more optimistic tone than Crane's short story, both works show how the sea is not just about the power to take a person's breath away; the sea also takes away all light from human life. However, this is where "The Open Boat" and "Diving into the Wreck" start to differ. In "The Open Boat," the darkness of the sea consumes the characters. Some of the men die due to their rough encounter with the sea. In "Diving into the Wreck," the narrator finds the death that the wrecked ship represents; but remains blissfully alive. The narrator of "Diving into the Wreck" can contemplate the wonders of nature because she or he is in tune with it; whereas the captain and crew in "The Open Boat" spend their time at sea struggling endlessly against its darkness and potential to drown and kill.