Sriyanchita Srinivasan

Block C

English Commentary on Stephen Crane’s ‘The Open Boat, A tale of the sea’.

This extract is from Stephen Crane’s “The open boat, A tale of the sea (1897)” describing a crew of men stranded in the sea

in a life boat, and their reaction seeing land. The extract depicts the helplessness of the crew and their disappointments. The

presumption that there has to be life in a land followed with their disappointments which leads us to the very existence of the

incomprehensible “fate”. In this process Crane shows that in helpless situations, one tries to find faults at the other side

without realising their own situations. The attributes like cowardice, incompetency and blindness described by Crane to the

people on the land are symbols of negative emotions which emanate due to disappointments and frustrations. In this

scenario, the crew in frustration to their fate, having a wrecked ship, are disappointed with the people on the land who don’t

seem to notice them. Their reaction to the situation presents the readers a contrast between sea and land in comparison to the

same of man and fate, which leads us to the theme of how human beings react when their choices are taken away.

The extract opens up with a contrast between land and the sea. The captain remarks ‘there don’t seem to be any signs of life’.

This statement depicting irony since land is where people live and not the sea; where a ship full of people has been stranded.

Due to this very reason all the crew members on the boat assume to have life on the distant land. In the passage the cook says

‘funny they don’t see us’. This statement has been repeated thrice in the whole passage showcasing irony and also that when

people are in harsh situations they tend to blame people who aren’t in the frame. What is more ironical about the statement is

the use of the word ‘funny’. Crane also depicts the sea as a very powerful entity and yet very gentle. He says “the surfs roar

was here dulled, but its tone nevertheless, thunderous and mighty”. He uses words like ‘thunderous’ and ‘mighty’ in order to

suggest to the readers that although symbolically water is a source of life, it can also take life away as can be seen in the

passage with the open boat and the crew of men. Crane also has a vivid description of the sea “the roar of the sea was plain”,

“the white lip of a wave” and describing the land as ‘dunes topped with dark vegetation’, ‘a tiny house was blocked out

black upon the sky’. This shows that the crew of men were very far away from the land. This fact still didn’t deter them from

making pre-conceived notions. The statement “we will swamp sure” indicates the motivation and the drive of the crew to

fight against the odds seeing a ray of hope. Here the ray of hope for the crew being the land, which has kindled the spirit to

fight against the “wind, waves and tide”, is described ironically by Crane as dark. The author also evokes an image of the

land in such a way, that to the reader it seems that people are living in the island. If it hadn’t been for the note in which

Crane mentions ‘It is fair to say here that there was not a life saving station within twenty miles’, the reader wouldn’t have

known that there weren’t any people to see them in trouble.

From lines 18-41, the passage provides a greater look into the collective minds of the crew. He has vividly projected the

thought process of the human mind at a time of crisis. It shows how angry the men are at their absurd assumption of people

living on the island and not being able to notice such a big boat in mayhem. Their predicament further accentuates the

contrast between man and fate. The repetition of the line ‘If I am going to be drowned’ thrice indicates their fight to survival

by repeatedly asking themselves and finding an answer through fate. When they recognize their chances of dying they

question fate and ask it whether all they had worked for should come to an end like death. Crane personifies fate by calling it

‘an old ninny woman’, which is leading them to give up the ‘sacred cheese of life’. They ask her if she had wanted to drown

them in the first place why not it do in the beginning. The men say ‘She dare not drown me’ twice to re-emphasize and to

bring surety to themselves that they won’t drown. This passage portrays how men react when their choices are taken away.

How they tend to blame other non-essential things and not focus on the real problem. The tone of this passage shows

frustration and helplessness amongst the crew. The author’s use of words such as ‘formidable’ provide an image to the

readers of how powerful the sea was at that point and how tough it would have been for the sailors to overcome it. Crane

also symbolizes the ‘life’ boat indicating that it should give life. But the irony behind it is despite being called a life boat; a

number of men are stranded with it in the sea. Towards the end one man after being pulled back into the sea says ‘they must

have seen us by now’ shows how the men still hope for the people, who don’t exist to see them and get them out before they

are drowned. In the end one man states “what do you think of those life saving people? Ain’t they peaches?” this statement is

full of sarcasm and irony. Peach is something referred as to who is very precious to another.

Crane has captured the human mind, which is full of presumptions and has brought out the idiosyncrasies of the mind. The

presumptions and preconceived notions area glaring obstacles to reality and makes the perception of the reality murky. The

negative emotions of the human mind emanate due to not able to perceive the reality.