Essays on The Open Boat

American Literature

One of the most charming and striking characteristics of the American literature of the nineteenth century is its naïveté. The protagonists regardless of being positive or negative heroes have a unique trust to the world and people surrounding them. This naïveté adds to the romantic and sincere nature of the poem or short story. It usually enhances the idea mentioned in the story and is intended to emphasize the meaning of it. To a certain degree, it may be taken as a symbol of American literature of the nineteenth century as naïve ideals and naïveté ...

It needs to be reckoned that one of the main aspects of a fictional literary work is the characterization that goes on to bind the entire text together accentuating its affective appeal to the readers. Literary artists too have come to exude their aesthetic and literary quintessence when it comes to the question of penning characters in their respective stories. For the purpose of proper comprehension of the matter in context, one can take into reckoning three very popular short stories that have come to gain the accolades of the literary critics as well as the avid readers all ...

Stories written based on writer`s experience have always been of great demand. To satisfy the readers with an interesting plot and breathtaking scenes, some people use the literary technique, even if primordial aim of the story was to inform readers about some events. The eagerness to make their life-stories popular clouds their minds and they begin think over fiction events or adventures to diversify the plot. This paper is to analyze the ways used by Stephen Crane in his “The Open Boat” to blend journalistic and literary techniques in the story and in his daily newspaper account. The ...

In this short story, Stephen Crane recounts the shared experiences of four survivors from the sinking of the steamer “Commodore” during their efforts to row in a small boat to a safe landfall on the coast of Florida. The four are the (injured) captain, the cook, the oiler and a fourth man, referred to as “the correspondent”.

Early in the story, Crane describes the captain’s mood in terms of his changed circumstances. He writes that the captain “was at this time buried in that profound dejection and indifference which comes, temporarily at least, to even the bravest and ...