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Laparan Monica D. Bsed-Iii: - The Correspondent

Stephen Crane's short story "The Open Boat" follows four men - a correspondent, a captain, a cook, and an oiler - as they struggle to reach shore after their ship sinks off the coast of Florida. Over 30 hours adrift in a small dinghy, they battle harsh conditions and their own fatigue. A monstrous wave destroys their boat, forcing them to swim for shore. The three survivors are rescued, but the oiler drowns, highlighting nature's indifference to human suffering. The story depicts man's vulnerability against the vast and uncaring sea.

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31 views3 pages

Laparan Monica D. Bsed-Iii: - The Correspondent

Stephen Crane's short story "The Open Boat" follows four men - a correspondent, a captain, a cook, and an oiler - as they struggle to reach shore after their ship sinks off the coast of Florida. Over 30 hours adrift in a small dinghy, they battle harsh conditions and their own fatigue. A monstrous wave destroys their boat, forcing them to swim for shore. The three survivors are rescued, but the oiler drowns, highlighting nature's indifference to human suffering. The story depicts man's vulnerability against the vast and uncaring sea.

Uploaded by

Nica Laparan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Laparan Monica D.

BSED-III

WEEK 13 Contemporary and Popular Literature

LITERARY FICTION

1. Biography of the Author


 Stephen Crane (November 1, 1871 – June 5, 1900) was an American poet, novelist, and short story
writer.
 Prolific throughout his short life, he wrote notable works in the Realist tradition as well as early
examples of American Naturalism and Impressionism.
 He is recognized by modern critics as one of the most innovative writers of his generation.
2. Characters
- The Correspondent
 A reporter and the central character of the story.
 the correspondent curses nature and the gods who rule the sea and wonders whether he is
really meant to drown.
- The Captain
 The captain of the ship, injured when the ship floods.
 The captain is calm and quiet, talking for the most part only to give directions and lead the
crew to shore.
 He is always alert and cool-headed, even when it looks as though he might be sleeping.
- The Cook
 The ship’s cook, who maintains a positive, even naïve, outlook on the men’s rescue.
 The cook is the first to suggest the presence of a lifesaving station and cannot help but turn
his mind to the simple pleasures of living on land, such as his favorite pies and meats.
- The Oiler (Billie)
 The only refugee from the ship to die in the final attempt at reaching land.
 The oiler is staunch, obedient to the captain, and generous and polite to the correspondent
whenever he is asked to row.
- The life-saving man
 The life-saving man is the person who notices the four shipwreck survivors swimming
toward the shore.
 He is also the first person to discover that the oiler drowned.
 The life-saving man is completely naked and shines “like a saint” with a “halo” above his
head praised by the narrator and characters for how he goes out of his way to help other
people.

- The waving man


 The waving man is a tourist who mistakes the four shipwreck survivors for a group of
fishermen.
 He cheerfully waves hello to the men with his coat, unaware of the men’s desperation.
3. Plot summary
 The first part introduces the four characters—the correspondent, a condescending observer
detached from the rest of the group;the captain, who is injured and morose at having lost his ship,
yet capable of leadership; the cook, fat and comical, but optimistic that they will be rescued; and
the oiler, Billie, who is physically the strongest, and the only one in the story referred to by name.
The four are survivors of a shipwreck, which occurred before the beginning of the story, and are
drifting at sea in a small dinghy.
 The main conflict is man vs. nature as the men struggle against an indifferent sea that threatens
them with its expansiveness, its sharks, its cold, its current that prevents the boat from finally
reaching the shore.
 The climax of the story occurs when a monstrous wave crashes into the dinghy, and the four men
jump from the boat to save their lives. Throughout the story, the men are afraid to lose the boat to
the sea.
 The resolution of the story is the correspondent, cook and captain are rescued, but realize that the
oiler has drowned.
 The ending surrounds the death of Billie the oiler. In his final moments, he tries to defeat nature by
strength while the others use logic and reason. He also sort of abandons the others, too, leaving
them floundering as he makes his way to shore.

4. Settings
Stephen Crane's ''The Open Boat'' is based on his actual experience working as a newspaper
correspondent traveling from Florida to Cuba. Crane was stranded for more than thirty hours.

PLACE - The story takes places in Florida (eastern coast)


TIME - in 1897, the late nineteenth century.
5. Conclusion

 "The Open Boat" is divided into seven sections, each told mainly from the point of view of the
correspondent, based upon Crane himself. The first part introduces the four characters—the
correspondent, a condescending observer detached from the rest of the group; ] the captain, who is
injured and morose at having lost his ship, yet capable of leadership; the cook, fat and comical, but
optimistic that they will be rescued; and the oiler, Billie, who is physically the strongest, and the only
one in the story referred to by name. The four are survivors of a shipwreck, which occurred before the
beginning of the story, and are drifting at sea in a small dinghy.In the following four sections, the
moods of the men fluctuate from anger at their desperate situation, to a growing empathy for one
another and the sudden realization that nature is indifferent to their fates. The men become fatigued
and bicker with one another; nevertheless, the oiler and the correspondent take turns rowing toward
shore, while the cook bails water to keep the boat afloat. When they see a lighthouse on the horizon,
their hope is tempered with the realization of the danger of trying to reach it. Their hopes dwindle
further when, after seeing a man waving from shore, and what may or may not be another boat, they
fail to make contact. The correspondent and the oiler continue to take turns rowing, while the others
sleep fitfully during the night. The correspondent then notices a shark swimming near the boat, but he
does not seem to be bothered by it as one would expect. In the penultimate chapter, the
correspondent wearily recalls a verse from the poem "Bingen on the Rhine" by Caroline Norton, in
which a "soldier of the Legion" dies far from home.
 The final chapter begins with the men's resolution to abandon the floundering dinghy they have
occupied for thirty hours and to swim ashore. As they begin the long swim to the beach, Billie the oiler,
the strongest of the four, swims ahead of the others; the captain advances towards the shore while still
holding onto the boat, and the cook uses a surviving oar. The correspondent is trapped by a local
current, but is eventually able to swim on. After three of the men safely reach the shore and are met
by a group of rescuers, they find Billie dead, his body washed up on the beach.

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