The Power Of Courage

Courage is what allows men to survive hardships and become heroes when placed in situation where their fellow man is counting on them. In “The Open Boat” by Stephen Crane and “The Signal” by Vsevolod Mikhailovich Garshin moral, physical, and mental courage are displayed through tough decision making, physical pain and facing down death and despair. Moral courage is the ability to make a decision and act against the popular or easy decision in the face of adverse consequences. The giving one to a cause in order to help someone is often viewed as being morally courageous. In “The Open Boat” each man shares the responsibility of keeping the lifeboat afloat and heading in the right direction, the correspondent and the oiler take turns rowing,

In “The Open Boat” the author discusses how the oiler and the correspondent alternate rowing together then separately, sharing in the pain and discomfort of the monotonous task, both men demonstrating their physical courage as “they rowed and they rowed” (Crane, 3). This kind of constant grinding work in a wet and cold enviromnet takes steadfast physical strenght not to give up and take the easy route. Likewise is the physical courage demonstrated by Semyon Ivanonv in “The Signal” when he makes the decision to stab himself to save others. Wihtout his flag and unable to warn the oncoming train about the derailed track Semyon possesd enough courage to physically stab himself to warn the others, as stated by Vsevolod Garshin “He buried the knife in his left arm above the elbow; the blood spurted out, flowing in a hot stream. In this he soaked his scarf, smoothed it out, tied it to the stick and hung out his red flag” (Garshin, lines 203-204). Rather than see the loss of innocent life Semyon sacrificed himself to save others thereby demonstrating great physical courage. Even though it may be the most recognizable form of courage, physical courage requires the greatest amount of personal