The Open Boat

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at the use of irony and symbolism in the novel. "The Open Boat" is a story of man's confrontation with death and the power of nature's indifference towards mankind. The writer shows how irony and symbolism remain constant throughout the story and present the reader with Crane's personal view of reality. The major examples of irony hidden throughout "The Open Boat" provide the reader with interpretations of their meanings.

From the Paper:

"Stephen Crane writes in his work The Open Boat, "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 Then if there be no tangible thing to hoot, he feels, perhaps, the desire to comfort a personification saying, 'Yes, but I love myself.' A high, cold star on a winter's night is the word he feels that she says to him. Thereafter he knows the pathos of his situation." "

More papers on The Open Boat:

• Essay # 90753 : "Stephen Crane's 'The Open Boat'"
• Comparison Essay # 27143 : "The Open Boat" and "The Man with a Flower in his Mouth"
• Book Review # 93376 : "The Open Boat"

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