stephen crane's the open boat
...was working as a war correspondent covering the Cuban Revolution and he was on his way to Cuba to write some reports. In addition, Crane is the only man named in this shipwreck. Similarly, the story written by Crane is about four men surviving in an open boat after a shipwreck near the Florida shore. These four men were a captain, an oiler, a cook, and a correspondent, Crane’s autobiographical character (Short Stories 1980). Furthermore, they also struggled for several days before being rescued. In the story Billie is the only name in the story, the oiler’s name (Crane 321). Stephen Crane also reflects his naturalistic style in the story. Crane was into naturalism for many of his work. Naturalism in literature sometimes depicts the relationship between individuals and nature, focusing on the significance of characters in their environment. Crane once quoted “ Naturalism in literature is a point of view that often emphasizes the material, the physical environment as a determinant in human behavior” (Short Story Criticism 1710). As a writer of naturalistic fiction, Crane is concerned with the effect of events in a character and the psychological consequences of those events. Crane believed that nature was indifferent to man and his problems. He clearly shows that in “The Open Boat”. In the story, he wrote "When it occurs to a man that nature does not regard him as important, and that she feels she would not maim the universe by disposing of him, he at first wishes to throw bricks at the temple, and he hates deeply the fact that there are no bricks and no temples" (Crane 332). In addition, he also describes in the story the forces of nature and the environment they were surrounded by. "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?" (Crane 332). Not only Crane reflects naturalism in the story, but also realism. Realism is described as a "Faithful representation of commonplace things"(Realism...