Paper Summary:

This study compares and contrast the nature and dramatic significance of the confrontations with death of the main characters in Stephen Crane's story "The Open Boat" and Luigi Pirandello's play "The Man with the Flower in His Mouth." The study focuses on death as a frightening, enraging and appalling force for the two men in Pirandello's play and a violent and powerful force of nature in Crane's story.

From the Paper:

"Crane's "The Open Boat" shows death to be a powerful force which is everywhere and cannot be denied or forgotten. Death in the form of the powerful sea confronts the four men in the story from beginning to end. Death waits for them in every thought as they consider trying to reach the shore. The men in the boat are simple men who must face death with no pretense, for their lives literally hang in the balance. They must either struggle to live, or prepare to die as best they can. The four individuals must not only deal with the very real possibility of their own deaths, but they must deal with the moral decision which may cost them their lives while saving the others' lives. The author seems to suggest that the Captain gave his life to make sure that the others survived (Crane 15)."

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