Remember: your comment can respond directly to other students' posts on this text. The goal of this forum is to offer an opportunity for intelligent dialogue related to the works we are studying in class. Respectful debate is always welcome.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Stephen Crane - "The Open Boat"
Remember: your comment can respond directly to other students' posts on this text. The goal of this forum is to offer an opportunity for intelligent dialogue related to the works we are studying in class. Respectful debate is always welcome.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I think that in his story, stephen crane is trying to effectively analyze mankinds perception of nature and how it is generaly effected by mankind's pain. In the beginning of the story, the characters recognize the waves around them as having cruel and wicked characteristics. The characters feel this way right after they have escaped the shipwreck and are trying to settle on the dinghy. But what is interesting, is how crane recgnizes that at the end of the story, when the men are saved, they classify the waves as having a naturaly flowing appearance, even though the waves havent changed since the beginning of the story. It is aparent that depending on what situation the characters are in, changes how they perceive what is around them, just like emerson's "mood beads".One question i have about the text is if the waves were mainly used in crane's metaphor, What was the point of cranes obsession over the sky and its appearance?
ReplyDeleteI think that Stephen Crane is trying to explain how difficult it is to find a religion to believe. When a person searches, they forget everything else and focus all their attention on religions. There are many false beliefs out in the world that people have to avoid. The four men on the boat have to survive the harsh seas and find a to the safety of the beach, or find a religion. The men are able to reach safety in the end, or find a religion, but the oiler dies which symbolizes him giving up on religion. My question is, is the fact that the captian is injured significant at all?
ReplyDeleteJake, I think that the fact that the captain was injured, sybolizes that he was being hindered in his search for religion. I dont think that the oiler dying represented him giving up on religion, but rather him not getting a chance to believe in a religion. Throughout the story, the cook was very adamant in finding safety, and always looking for safety in everything. Maybe that represents the idea that he was confused in his religion, and saw everything as being the right path. The question that i have, is if the sky represents the religion that these men are trying to find?
ReplyDeleteCorey, I do not think that is exactly what Crane is trying to convey in this story. I think he is trying to show more of his naturalistic views towards God.I believe that throughout the whole story Crane is trying to demonstrate God's indifference towards men. The men want to find a religion to hold onto but the fact is that it is simply unreachable. I think that by saying that the men can not see the sky because they are focused on the wave may point to the fact that there is no point in looking to God for help so we need to looks straight ahead at our own challenges alone. What I want to know is what do the personalities of the men mean? Do they symbolize people and what they choose to do knowing there isn't a God by finding a meaning in life or just giving up?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Adam's statement here which conveys the fact that through out the whole story these men struggle to survive hoping for a miracle from God. These men who are too focussed on the waves to even look up in the sky. These men now struggling to survive in the water ignore God throughout the whole story and bassically go on their own way, while trying to recieve a miraculous sign from God. Notice in the entire story they do not once directly ask God what they should do, they only ask poeple on the shore about which way they should go or . They just focussed on the waves before them and their own efforts to survive, while expecting to recieve help from other people feeling entitled because they have made it so far. My only issue is if this was to dissprove God's involvement with man, then why does Crane not have the men directly aproach God to ask for help.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Adam: Crane is trying to portray the naturalist view of God- he exists, but he doesn't care. Crane uses Fate to communicate his view of God; the men question Fate several times during the story, mostly to the effect of "How can fate let me come this far only to be drowned?" In the end, Crane's point is that God is an indifferent force (shown by the ironic death of the oiler). The oiler was the man who worked the hardest to keep the dinghy afloat; if anyone was to survive it should have been him. But, as Crane is trying to communicate, God doesn't care who deserves to live; he is indifferent to the plight on man.
ReplyDelete-Chris Nissly
I have the same opinion as most in this blog; that is, "The Open Boat" written by Stephen Crane is a short story with numerous parallels to naturalism and its views of God. One way in which this is shown is the these men see other men on the island of which they are floating just off shore. The fact that they see these men, yet are unable to ascertain what they are trying to communicate illustrates the idea that God taunts mankind by letting them know he is there without letting them reach Him. In other words, God allows mankind to know that He is real and that with Him is something better, but He never allows people to attain this. This is significant because it is a step further than the view that God is indifferent towards mankind, it establishes the concept that God may actual have some malicious or ill intent towards man.
ReplyDelete