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Dr. Bordelon's American Lit II On Campus

"The Open Boat"
Stephen Crane
1897

Image credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Crane

Terms to Know
Naturalism: A literary movement prevalent in later nineteenth century America that, as Lars Ahnebrink writes, "a manner and method of composition by which the author portrays life as it is in accordance with the philosophic theory of determinism [. . . .] To a naturalist man can be explained in terms of the forces, usually heredity and environment, which operate upon him" (vi). Ahnebrink writes that naturalist writers exhibit a "post-Darwinian belief that man was fundamentally an animal; his actions therefore depended essentially upon physiological phenomena" (214).

For additional information, see the "Naturalism" paragraph entry in the Oxford Companion to American Literature. For a richer discussion, see the Naturalism and Realism essay from The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature.

Existentialism

A mode of philosophy which emerged in the latter part of the nineteenth century and came into prominence in the middle part of the twentieth century. It foregrounds the perplexing condition of the modern subject who, in the absence of God, is forced to contend with the meaninglessness of life. This does not necessarily mean that existentialism is a secular philosophy, though largely speaking it is, because the absence of God can be understood to mean that humans have forsaken God or that God has forsaken humans (i.e. God still exists: He just does not involve Himself in human affairs). Both of the so-called 'fathers' of existentialism, Soren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche, start from this position and argue for a metaphysics of truth and freedom in response -- authenticity thus replaces piety as the new condition for the righteous to aspire to. Instead of being true to God, one must rather be true to oneself, but this is difficult for two reasons: first, there is the apparent logical impossibility of the self knowing the self; second, there is the problem of knowing how one should act. In the early twentieth century, phenomenology confronted the question of how the subject makes sense of their world, and although it did not concern itself overly much with the metaphysical question of how one should act, it had a significant influence on existentialism all the same because of its account of apperception (derived from Kant), which solves the first problem. The second problem, namely the question of how one should act preoccupied existentialism's most important theorist Jean-Paul Sartre and answering it effectively became his life's work. Sartre popularized the term existentialism (which he borrowed from Gabriel Marcel, who first used it in the mid-1920s), in his short book L'existentialisme est un humanisme (1946), translated as Existentialism and Humanism (1948), which summarized and simplified his previous book, L'Etre et le neant (1943), translated as Being and Nothingness (1958), which is for many the definitive work on the subject. Sartre's novels, particularly La Nausee (1938), translated as Nausea (1959), are also taken to be important contributions to existentialism because they dramatize the situation of the subject confronted by the brute fact of existence. The label existentialism has also been applied to the work of both Martin Heidegger and Karl Jaspers, though neither of them accepted the term themselves.

Buchanan, Ian. "existentialism." A Dictionary of Critical Theory,Oxford University Press, Oxford Reference,accessed 1 Mar. 2023.

The Life
Crane, like many writers of this time, lived a dual life as a writer: he was both a journalist and wrote fiction. In fact, this story is based on the sinking of the USS Commodore. Crane was a passenger and wrote an article describing the incident which is linked here.

As the textbook reveals, Crane also wrote poetry. And as you can see it's in a very epigrammatic style that presages the imagists and modern poets of the next century.

Two of my favorite Crane poems not included in the textbook are below.

III

In the desert
I saw a creature, naked, bestial,
Who, squatting upon the ground,
Held his heart in his hands,
And ate of it.
I said, "Is it good, friend?"
"It is bitter – bitter", he answered,
"But I like it
Because it is bitter,
And because it is my heart."

From The Black Riders (1895)

The last lines were used by the contemporary author Joyce Carol Oates as the title to a novel

The wayfarer,
Perceiving the pathway to truth,
Was struck with astonishment.
It was thickly grown with weeds.
"Ha," he said,
"I see that none has passed here
In a long time."
Later he saw that each weed
Was a singular knife.
"Well," he mumbled at last,
"Doubtless there are other roads."

From War is Kind (1899)

The Times

Class Discussion
1. What is the "brotherhood of man" that is so "difficult to describe" (1004)? Does Crane do it? When is this brotherhood physically broken? What does this suggest?
2. What is the ride in the boat constantly compared with (1005, etc.)? What does this comparison suggest about the narrator's view of nature?
3. How/why is the smoking of cigars (1005) a sign of hubris?
4. Why is the phrase "If I am going to be drowned . . . ." repeated (1006, 1009, 1011)? Why does it seem to fade away at each telling, and finally disappear altogether?
5. "When it occurs to man . . ." (1011) what does this quote say about man's view of nature and fate?
6. Is the matter of fact tone of this story related to the narrator's comments on art in paragraphs 1012?
7. What's the meaning of the last line? What's being "interpreted" and why does it need to be explained?
8. What is this story ultimately saying about the relationship b/t man and nature? What passages support your reading?
9. After reading the newspaper account of this same incident, consider both pieces of writing and argue how the difference between the article and the story illustrate the difference between mere prose and literature.

Group Questions

What is the "brotherhood of man" Crane talks about in the story? Is it exclusive masculine?
Given this definition of Naturalism

A literary movement prevalent in later nineteenth century America that, as Lars Ahnebrink writes, "a manner and method of composition by which the author portrays life as it is in accordance with the philosophic theory of determinism [. . . .] To a naturalist man can be explained in terms of the forces, usually heredity and environment, which operate upon him" (vi). Ahnebrink writes that naturalist writers exhibit a "post-Darwinian belief that man was fundamentally an animal; his actions therefore depended essentially upon physiological phenomena" (214).

argue that "The Open Boat" is or is not a naturalist work.

What's the meaning of the last line? What's being "interpreted" and why does it need to be explained?
What is this story ultimately saying about the relationship b/t man and nature? What passages support your reading?
After reading the newspaper account of this same incident, consider both pieces of writing and argue how the difference between the article and the story illustrate the difference between mere prose and literature.

Links
Link to newspaper article by Crane describing this incident. Print and read and have ready for class.

Slate in history
http://geology.com/rocks/slate.shtml

History of tombstones

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

Omnibus picture