Dec 27, 2009

The Open Boat | 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.’’

Ever since it was first published in 1897, ‘‘The Open Boat’’ has widely been considered a masterpiece of literary realism. All of the most recognizable elements of Realism are present within the story. In its graphic probing of events and in its objective description of the characters’ psychological state, the story successfully presents a realistic sensation of the characters’ experience without any of the false heroism or romantic plots that characterized other contemporary fiction. ‘‘The Open Boat’’ has no plot in the traditional sense; it is almost a mere...