If this old ninny-woman, Fate, cannot do better than this, she should be deprived of the management of men's fortunes. She is an old hen who knows not her intentions. If she has decided to drown me, why did she not do it in the beginning and save me all this trouble. The whole affair is absurd...But no, she cannot mean to drown me. She dare not drown me. She cannot drown me. Not after all this work" (Crane).
This narration of the men's musing not only highlight's Crane's theme of fate, but also his theme of nature, and the way in which men are overpowered by nature, expressed as the sea. This primary theme is captured by the fact that the men did not drown simply at the hands of nature, in the shipwreck, but are convinced that they will die at the hands of nature now, when safety is almost within reach. In addition to their expression of anger with Fate, the men acknowledge this when Crane describes them as convincing themselves that "she cannot drown me. Not after all this work" (Crane). In fact, to the men, nature and fate seem much the same. If nature has the power to drown, than she must be contained within the sea. Here, the men feel as if nature is toying with them, allowing them one last glimpse at human society before reminding them that she is superior.
Although Crane's themes of fate and nature often intersect, as the men, in their condition, see them as intertwined, Crane's nature imagery is written throughout the story. In fact, the story begins with Crane's statement that, "None of them knew the color of the sky. Their eyes glanced level, and were fastened upon the waves that swept toward them" (Crane). Thus, in the first sentence of the book, Crane establishes...
Indeed, the inured captain, the soar and tired rowers, the jagged shoreline, and the inability of those on the shore to understand what the men are facing are all signs of the superiority that nature holds over men. At the end of the story, however, nature is only partially victorious. It is not nature's calmness, or the sea's temperature that save three of the four men at the end of the story. Instead, it is the land, which Crane uses to symbolize human society, and humankind in the battle between nature and man, the land that is "instantly...populated with men with blankets, clothes, and flasks, and women with coffeepots, and all the remedies sacred to their minds" (Crane). Indeed, Crane writes that land, or human society's, welcome for the three was "warm and generous" in opposition to the welcome that Crane implies the oiler received -- "the different and sinister hospitality of the grave" (Crane).
Although Crane's final sentence of "The Open Boat," is as grim as his first, his themes of fate and nature have been used in such a manner to show man as victorious in the battle between men and nature. Though the men are constantly driven to the point of madness by both fate and nature that they believe are treating them cruelly, in the end, three of them manage to survive simply because of the power of their fellow humans. Despite the fact that nature and fate claims one casualty, the score is three to one, with humankind still coming out ahead.
Works Cited
Crane, Stephen. "The Open Boat." 2009. 17 January 2008. Read Books Online. http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/1514/
