The_Open_Boat_Interpretation

The Open Boat Interpretation “The Open Boat” Interpretation Stephen Crane’s piece, “The Open Boat,” depicts men’s struggles against a natural world that is both destructive and indifferent. Crane uses a theme of cosmic irony, which is the belief that the universe is indifferent to the plight of man, and this theme is illustrated through the use of symbols for isolation, insignificance, and indifference. The one use of symbolism to relay the theme is by contrasting the power of the ocean against the insignificance of the dingy. In the beginning of the story, when the powerful waves were thrashing the boat around, the narrator says that “a seat in the boat was not unlike a seat upon a bucking bronco, and, by the same token, a bronco is not much smaller.” By comparing the size of the boat to a bull, he shows that it’s size is insignificant to the size of the vast oceans. In this story, the ocean represents the universe, and the boat represents man’s existence in it. As the boat struggles to stay afloat, men have to struggle to keep boat, universe, theme, story, size, irony, going, cosmic, am, world, struggles, struggle, shows, seat, rhyme, represents, place, piece, own, open, ocean, meaning, man’s, insignificant, insignificance, indifferent, important, far, existence, drowned, crane’s, bronco, against, writing, within