The Open Boat | Essays and Criticism

  • Interpreting the Uninterpretable: Unreasoning Nature and Heroic Endurance in Crane’s The Open Boat

    In the essay that follows, Mark Elliot examines the way Crane transformed the raw material of his firsthand experience as a shipwreck survivor into a short story, ‘‘The Open Boat,’’ which ‘‘explores the mysteries of nature and human life on many levels.’’

  • Tales of Adventure

    In the following excerpt, Knapp commends ‘‘The Open Boat’’ as a great piece of short fiction and a compelling narrative of struggle between individuals and the indifferent, vast natural world.

  • For the Record: Text and Picture in The Open Boat

    In the following excerpt, Monteiro asserts that ‘‘The Open Boat’’ derives not only from Crane’s personal experience, but from his creative response to literary and other artistic sources as well.

  • The Open Boat: Additional Perspective

    In the following excerpt, Gerstenberger studies the epistemological aspect of ‘‘The Open Boat,’’ which deals with the human limitations of knowing anything with objective certainty. She also examines Crane's choice to divide his point of view among the various characters in the story, with particular emphasis on the character of the correspondent.