Themes of Nature, Brotherhood, and Knowledge in "The Open Boat" by Stephen Crane
In "The Open Boat" Stephen Crane uses the sea and four men adrift in a dinghy as a framework for communicating his ideas about life. The story, in my opinion, is a metaphor for life. The four men are helpless against the indifferent, yet overwhelming forces of nature. In "The Open Boat," Stephen Crane not only comments on the role of nature and God in the life of man, but the importance of community and brotherhood, and the nature of an individual 's journey to knowledge.
"The Open Boat" was written following Stephen Crane 's real life experience when a ship he was aboard, The Commodore, sunk on January 22, 1897 off the coast of Florida on its way to Cuba. He and three others, the captain, oiler and cook, as in his fictional account, were able to make their way back to shore after a harrowing thirty hour journey. Billy Higgins, reflected in the story as the oiler, died close to shore (Schaefer 296). Some commentators have proposed that because the story so closely mirrors his real life experience, it crosses from fiction to nonfiction. Stefanie Bates Eye states that " 'The Open Boat ' is not more fictional or invented than Stephen Crane 's 'Own Story ' and that both narratives follow the historical sequence of events surrounding the Commodore disaster as verified in contemporary newspaper reports, the ship 's log and other shipping records, and accounts by witnesses" (75). Bates presents various opinions about the ongoing debate regarding the status of "The Open Boat" as a fiction or literary nonfiction and comes to the following conclusion: "It is our responsibility to accept the integrity of his vision as consistent with nonfictional truth-telling and consider "The Open Boat" as an early-perhaps one of the first-examples of literary nonfiction" (77).
However, others feel that Crane, perhaps stifled by journalism, sought to write about the philosophical meaning of his shipwreck experience, and creatively used the historical facts as a framework to get his ideas
"The Open Boat" was written following Stephen Crane 's real life experience when a ship he was aboard, The Commodore, sunk on January 22, 1897 off the coast of Florida on its way to Cuba. He and three others, the captain, oiler and cook, as in his fictional account, were able to make their way back to shore after a harrowing thirty hour journey. Billy Higgins, reflected in the story as the oiler, died close to shore (Schaefer 296). Some commentators have proposed that because the story so closely mirrors his real life experience, it crosses from fiction to nonfiction. Stefanie Bates Eye states that " 'The Open Boat ' is not more fictional or invented than Stephen Crane 's 'Own Story ' and that both narratives follow the historical sequence of events surrounding the Commodore disaster as verified in contemporary newspaper reports, the ship 's log and other shipping records, and accounts by witnesses" (75). Bates presents various opinions about the ongoing debate regarding the status of "The Open Boat" as a fiction or literary nonfiction and comes to the following conclusion: "It is our responsibility to accept the integrity of his vision as consistent with nonfictional truth-telling and consider "The Open Boat" as an early-perhaps one of the first-examples of literary nonfiction" (77).
However, others feel that Crane, perhaps stifled by journalism, sought to write about the philosophical meaning of his shipwreck experience, and creatively used the historical facts as a framework to get his ideas
Cited: assan, Maurice. Introduction. Stephen Crane: A Collection of Critical Essays. 1967. Ed. Bassan. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.1-11. Rpt. in A Reader 'sGuide to the Short Stories of Stephen Crane. Michael Schaefer. New York:G.K. Hall and Co. 1996. 296-346. Bates Eye, Stefanie. "Fact, Not Fiction: Questioning Our Assumptions About Crane 's 'The OpenBoat. '" Studies in Short Fiction 35.1 (Winter, 1998): 65-77Bergon, Frank. " 'The Open Boat ' As A Story of Revelation." Readings on Stephen Crane. Ed. Bonnie Szumski. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1998. 150-159. Crane, Stephen. "The Open Boat" The Portable Stephen Crane. Ed. Joseph Katz. New York:Viking Press, 1969. 360-386. Denny, Neville. "Imagination and Experience in Stephen Crane." English Studies in Africa 9(1966): 28-42. Rpt. In A Reader 's Guide to the Short Stories of Stephen Crane. MichaelSchaefer. New York: G.K. Hall and Co. 1996. 296-346. Gerstenberger, Donna. " ' The Open Boat ': An Additional Perspective." Modern Fictional Studies17 (Winter, 1971-1972): 558. Rpt. in The Anger of Stephen Crane. Chester Wolford. LaFrance, Marston. A Reading in Stephen Crane. Oxford: Clarendon, 1971. 195-196. Hall and Co. 1996. 296-346.