The context of this quote is that the characters of the story have been in a dinghy for several days. They are close to land, but they are unable to get inshore. Essentially, they are beginning to confront (at least internally) the prospect that they may not survive, a reality that is portrayed rather bluntly by the fact that a shark is beginning to circle around the boat. This passage, then, reflects the sheer unimportance of four men amid the vastness of nature. This is difficult for people to understand, as we are inherently self-centered. But we are powerless, or at least very weak, before nature, and our lives mean little in the grand scheme of things. They are only important to us.

In "The Open Boat," what does the following quote mean?

"When it occurs to a man that nature does not regard him as important, and that she feels she would not maim the universe by disposing of him, he at first wishes to throw bricks at the temple, and he hates deeply the fact that there are no bricks and no temples."

The following quote appears in Stephen Crane's short story "The Open Boat."

When it occurs to a man that nature does not regard him as important, and that she feels she would not maim the universe by disposing of him, he at first wishes to throw bricks at the temple, and he hates deeply the fact that there are no bricks and no temples.

Stephen Crane was Naturalistic author. That said, there were certain characteristics his writings included. Naturalists believed that nature was the most powerful being on earth. The term "being" is used here because, many times, nature was personified (meaning that nonhuman and nonliving things were given human characteristics and abilities).

This idea is supported in the following excerpt of the passage:

she feels she would not maim the universe by disposing of him.

Here, "she" is nature and "she" has the power to feel and maim.

Another aspect of Naturalistic literature is the use of common, everyday settings. The story takes place in a dingy on the sea. The men are certainly not near any temples (which would elevate the setting).

Also in the passage, man realizes that nature is far more powerful than "he." Typically, Naturalists allow their characters to come to this realization.

In the end, the passage's importance is to show both the reader and the character that nature is far more powerful than man and the man's recognition of this "fact." Give that this was a fact for the Naturalist, it would only make sense that the author would include the ideology in the text.