Man and the Vain Struggle Against Nature & Himself: Determinism in Stephen Crane’s The Open Boat

Stephen Crane’s short story, “The Open Boat,” conveys the experiences of four men who survive a shipwreck and find themselves set afloat on a life boat in the middle of the ocean. On the surface, the story paints a picture of the perils of being lost at sea and of the way that four men can come together in a time of distress and count on one another for strength and companionship. However, the story also discusses the theme of determinism, or the ideas that there are forces acting upon an individual, that these forces are beyond the control of the individual, and that these forces impact and shape the lives of those on whom they are exerted. Throughout the progression of the story these four men must come to terms with their own mortality and, more importantly, their own insignificance. Crane uses nature in many forms to reflect the concept of determinism; he presents nature in the form of the sea and the weather, and he also presents nature in the form of the tired and hungry bodies of men. The four survivors on this small boat struggle against these forces acting upon them as they fight for survival. In “The Open Boat” Crane pits man against nature, but it is a fight in which at least one of the competitors, nature, is not actively participating, and by showing this, Crane is able to demonstrate shifting perceptions as the men on the boat process their predicament and eventually come to the sad realization that there is no one to fight or to blame and that nature, in all its manifestations, displays no concern about whether they live or die.

Primarily, these men must face the obstacle of merely being mortals with a need for the crucial basics of human survival such as food, water, and rest. In order to cope with other p...

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...ry little separates these men from imminent death and that what does stand between them exists and acts outside of their realm of influence. It is not their strength, hard work, or perseverance that will challenge nature and allow them to live. If anything, it is the strength of the man-made boat that must hold up against the forces beating against them. Their fate lies in the figurative hands of nature and of men, and everything that they do in the lifeboat will bring them closer to either life or death. But they have no way to tell which decisions will lead them where, so they must rely on the deterministic factors of life to lead them to safety rather than to their demise, but first they must lose their senses of self-importance and come to terms with the fact that their survival is not regarded in anyway by nature and the other forces working in their lives.