Naturalism in Stephen Crane’s “The Open Boat”
According to literature, naturalism is a theory that attempts to express realistic facts by pessimism and divided opinion. American naturalism picked form alongside realism in the Post-civil war era in the eighteenth century. Naturalism’s greatest distinction from realism was the determinant factor of nature and perspective of the written works. In comparison to the realists who based their arguments on local grounds, naturalists were more about urbanized surroundings. Most naturalist authors hailed from urban areas, for example, Frank Norris, Jack London, Hemingway, Henry Adams, and Stephen Crane. Crane, one of the most famous naturalists, was quite the practitioner of the writing technique. In his book “The Open Boat,” he tells a story of nature due to its cynical perspective of life. He attaches different qualities to view, some optimistic and others are pessimistic. In this study, I intend to analyze Crane’s description of nature as taunting, unconcerned, beautiful, and indifferent, in his short story “The Open Boat.”
The story portrays nature as indifferent. Crane’s creative piece seems to bear a sense of hopelessness that provides a skeptical and morbid perspective of life. From start to finish, the tone of the author is somber alongside that of the characters who never seem to be out of jeopardy. The characters involve four men who are always battling something; sharks, ocean tide waves, their psyche, their muscle, and the acceptance of nature they have no control of. It is from this downgrading of the main characters that makes Crane’s work quite pessimistic. This aspect is quite naturalistic as it gives the feeling of little control and a cut-throat life. The men are probably so hopeless due to lack of free will, as believed by realists, they play toys of the ocean, wind, and their gloom. This puppetry is part of the external force combated by the characters, but they will still lose. As for naturalism, the four men are at the mercy of the eccentricity of the external forces, either by nature, fate, or something beyond the two. “The Open Boat” revolves around the external force encountered by the characters to be majorly fate and life (Bender 48). It makes them wonder why fate bothers to pull them down so much, only to drown them in the end. However, what they don’t recognize is that fate is far from responsible for their shortcomings. It was all random and out of their control. Lack of control is the fundamental aspect of naturalism. While the characters are not controlled by fate, nature is most definitely behind it all; the wind, currents, sea temperatures, the rising sun, the setting of the story, and the ocean in general. They are all responsible natural factors that contribute to how the four men are affected as they drift in their dingy. However, these are entirely indifferent and unconcerned factors; they occur randomly. Crane states that “shipwrecks are apropos of nothing” and goes ahead to note concerning nature that “she was indifferent, flatly indifferent.”
Nature is cruel. The narrative of “The Open Boat” runs through the character’s journey of awareness, which teaches them that they only matter to themselves. Initially, they think of themselves as vitally significant, at least in the small universe that they have created for themselves because they seem to be the last survivors after the sinking of the boat they were sailing in(Monteiro 308). As time goes by, signs start to occur and prove that nobody would realize if they survived or not and that their existence might not be of importance to any person. There are no life-saving squads that go looking for them, and even when they believe they are visible to the people on the shore, there is still no sign of rescue. They keep repeating the refrain that “funny they don’t see us.” The characters are, by all means, and proportions, invisible. The only creatures that seem to be aware of the four men are sharks and gulls, and even those, view them as nets for birds to roost and possible potential meals, rather than as worthy individuals. As soon as the correspondent recognizes this bitter truth, he still chooses to cling to the string of hope that the universe will give a listening ear and respond to their rescue by saying, “Yes, but I love myself.” However, the only response that the universe provides is a cold star on a night in the winter season. The star, similar to the universe, is unfeeling and distant. To the star, the men are absolutely nothing. Nature gives these characters a cruel vibe, and it is amazing how they continue to hold on to hope.
Nature is taunting. Generally, the story revolves around a conflict of humanity and the provoking view of the sea. The sea is almost a character by its right, an elemental necessity, unconcerned by the struggle put up by the other human characteristics to survive. As a nature analog, the sea seems to have no other intention but to exercise and explore the depth of its own power, by which to taunt human beings. The correspondent, for example, reminisces his childhood past about a Legion soldier in Algiers passing away. It comes to his realization that as a child, he did not show concern for the soldier. Now that he is on the edge of death, he starts to understand that nature has no interest in his life. As a matter of fact, all the forces seem to be rooting for his demise. Crane uses this aspect to show how much the universe can seem to work against a person, and how by unity of mankind can join forces to push off the common enemy- irrespective of the form the enemy takes; poverty, an ocean, a nation at war or natural disasters(Bradbury 118). Individuals also need to have total control of emotions raging within them because they make them vulnerable to impulse, desire, other human beings, physical aspects, and even nature itself. If they allow for these factors to sway them, it could pull them down because that is how life revolves, there will always be obstacles trying to provoke a person into their downfall.
Nature is beautiful. As much as life is blamed for the plights that counter the four men, one can’t help but ask, is nature truly unjust? The beautiful nature that surrounds human beings is it capable of working against them? The response to this relies on a person’s line of thoughts and judgment of what is just and what is unjust. Nature does not have a psychological capacity to choose to be unfair. It is a mere force that exists, and people are probably just assigned to their destinies by default. In traditional naturalism literature, authors focus on portraying the power of nature being greater than man. In most cases, human beings lack free will when it comes to nature; hence, man is only a mere instrument in the grand scheme of the stories. Crane’s story is not any different(Linforth 212). The characters are portrayed to be at the mercy of the sea. They emerge from the situation because nature is done toying with their lives. So to put forward a concise response, nature is not really unjust; it basically exists. Nature is simply a beautiful factor of life that needs to be enjoyed by human beings, and not criticized and blamed for all their shortcomings.
In conclusion, Crane’s definition of nature is balanced against his compelling perspective of humankind, as expressed by the four men stuck in the dinghy. They gain a new view of life, as their emotions vacillated. When they are in anger, nature seems to be punishing them. During hopeful times, they view nature as a unifying factor for the people. In times of jubilance, they feel like nature is the best as individuals and as a group. When in disappointment, nature disengages itself. During desperation, they believe nature to be a weakness underneath their own personalities. Basically, nature seems to have a role in human existence.
Work cited
Bender, B. (1976). “Hanging Stephen Crane in the Impressionist Museum.” The
Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Wiley (on behalf of The American Society
for Aesthetics): )Vol. 35, No. 1 (Autumn), pp. 47-55.
JOURNAL ARTICLE Text and Picture in “The Open Boat” George Monteiro Journal of Modern Literature, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Jul. 1984), pp. 307-311
Art and Reality in Stephen Crane Malcolm Bradbury Journal of American Studies, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Apr. 1968), pp. 117-120
Stephen Crane (pp. 211-236) From The Anthem Guide to Short Fiction Editor: Christopher Linforth. Anthem Press (2011)
