A dinghy like the one being towed by this skiff figures in Stephen Crane's gripping tale "The Open Boat."
Image courtesy of American Memory at the Library of Congress.
Subject Areas
Literature and Language Arts
American
Fiction
Time Required
1-2 class periods
Skills
close reading of a text
critical analysis and interpretation
comparison and contrast
Internet research
analysis of primary documents
Stephen Crane found himself floating in a dinghy for thirty hours after The Commodore, the steamship he was on, wrecked on its way to Cuba. Those experiences informed his short story "The Open Boat." Alternating between the harrowing moments of waves crashing over the bow of the dinghy and the development of a certain kind of brotherhood in the face of overwhelming danger, "The Open Boat" remains one of Crane's best works and a wonderful example of American literary naturalism. In this lesson, students will examine the relationship of man and nature as portrayed in "The Open Boat."
Guiding Question
What is the relationship of man and nature in Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat"?
Learning Objectives
In this lesson, students will learn how to:
Examine critically the relationship of man and nature in "The Open Boat"
Understand third person, omniscient point of view
Conduct in-depth character analysis
Explore the depth of emotion evoked by Crane
Preparing to Teach this Lesson
Review the lesson plan. Locate and bookmark suggested materials and other useful websites. Download and print out any documents you will use and duplicate copies as necessary for student viewing.
Read "The Open Boat" (1894), available at the UVA E-text center, via EDSITEment reviewed Center for Liberal Arts.
Introduce your students to Stephen Crane's biography and contextualize him in American literary history, using the biographies and other information available in the "Preparing to Teach" section above. Discuss Crane's background with students, and remind them that Crane suffered from a shipwreck on The Commodore and spent thirty hours on a small boat at sea before being rescued.
Have students view the following images to help them contextualize Crane's seafaring experience and background for the story itself. Images and videos relevant to Crane:
Now that students have encountered some of the literary and geographic context for the story, they are ready to begin reading the story. Assign students "The Open Boat" to read at home or, if you prefer, have students read the story in class. As they read ask students to consider the journey the men take in "The Open Boat." The four characters of "The Open Boat" are attempting to reach a faraway lighthouse on the Florida coast (Mosquito Inlet) in an effort to save themselves after a shipwreck.
As part of their reading assignment, ask students to choose an image that represents the end goal of their journey and to find at least one passage from the book highlighting that goal.
Can you identify an image that represents the protagonists' journey?
Students might point to a number of passages from the text, such as the following example:
The captain, rearing cautiously in the bow, after the dingey soared on a
great swell, said that he had seen the lighthouse at Mosquito Inlet.
Presently the cook remarked that he had seen it. The correspondent was at
the oars, then, and for some reason he too wished to look at the lighthouse,
but his back was toward the far shore and the waves were important, and for
some time he could not seize an opportunity to turn his head. But at last
there came a wave more gentle than the others, and when at the crest of it
he swiftly scoured the western horizon.
"See it?" said the captain.
"No," said the correspondent, slowly, "I didn't see anything."
"Look again," said the captain. He pointed. "It's exactly in that
direction."
At the top of another wave, the correspondent did as he was bid, and this time his eyes chanced on a small still thing on the edge of the swaying horizon. It was precisely like the point of a pin. It took an anxious eye to find a lighthouse so tiny.
As they read, ask students to note key moments in the story where there seems to be a significant shift in the crew's journey. This exercise will encourage students to note the progress of the plot and begin to think about the symbols and imagery used throughout.
2. Encountering the Sea
Ask students to turn to the beginning of "The Open Boat":
NONE of them knew the color of the sky. Their eyes glanced level, and
were fastened upon the waves that swept toward them. These waves were of the
hue of slate, save for the tops, which were of foaming white, and all of the
men knew the colors of the sea. The horizon narrowed and widened, and dipped
and rose, and at all times its edge was jagged with waves that seemed thrust
up in points like rocks.
Many a man ought to have a bath-tub larger than the boat which here rode upon the sea. These waves were most wrongfully and barbarously abrupt and tall, and each froth-top was a problem in small boat navigation.
Next ask students to point out some of the descriptive language in this opening scene:
Slate
Foaming white
Jagged
Thrust
Points
Wrongfully
Abrupt
Tall
Then ask the following questions:
What does it mean that "None of them knew the color of the sky"? What kind of mood does this set for the story?
What type(s) of conflict is presented at the beginning of "The Open Boat"?
What kind of story does this opening suggest will unfold?
What does this opening make you feel as a reader? What kind of imagery does the scene present?
Students should note that the characters in the boat are so overwhelmed by the sea and the waves that they cannot even see the sky (some might also suggest that the passage implies stormy weather). They should note the imagery of the passage—the dull slate of the jagged waves that were like rocks—and that the men in the boat are miniscule in the face of the dominating sea. Students might note that reading the passage made them feel like they were on the waves, as in the passage "jagged with waves that seemed thrust up in points like rocks," with "up," "points," and "rocks" as the peaks of the waves, and the dips with "in" and "like."
3. Characters in the Boat
Distribute the Open Boat Characters handout, available as a PDF file or an online interactive chart, and ask students to take notes on the four men in the boat. Questions students should keep in mind as they detail the characters include:
How does the narrator describe the crew? What adjectives does the narrator use?
What are their jobs?
Are readers provided with hints as to their strengths and weaknesses?
Students may use this chart either as a reading exercise or a post-reading classroom group activity. Students should track initial impressions of characters and then note the final outcome for each character in the conclusion of the story, citing passages from the text that reveal elements of their character. Students might note, for example, that only the oiler is given a name (Billie), or that the captain is hurt, and so on. Since students know something about Crane's biography, ask them which character in the open boat most closely resembles him. This activity is particularly useful as a segue to the next activity on narration.
4. Narration in "The Open Boat"
Ask students:
What point-of-view the narrator is adopting in this story - first or third person?
Your students should note that the narration is from a third-person perspective, since the narrator is not using "I" to describe him- or herself. Remind students about the different kinds of third-person narration: limited and omniscient (definitions available via the EDSITEment-reviewed Academy of American Poets).
To discern which of these options is invoked in Crane's story, ask students—individually or in groups—to survey section I and II in the story, noting how the narrator relays information about the crew of the tiny boat.
Does the narrator focus on any one character more or less? In what way do some characters have more significance than others?
Does the narrator describe the characters' thoughts and emotions? How does he do so—with certainty or speculatively?
Students should provide specific passages to answer their questions. Students also might not that the correspondent seems to be slightly favored in terms of point of view. At the end of section II, the narrator reports that the captain and the cook both "said" or "remarked" that they had "seen the light-house at Mosquito Inlet," but the reader doesn't actually see it until the correspondent, currently "at the oars," "for some reason … too wished to look at the light-house." Only at his second attempt to see their goal do we, as readers, actually see it described as well.
Ask students to consider
How would this passage be different if it were narrated via first person point of view? Would the story change?
Why emphasize the correspondent over any of the other characters? What is the significance in this choice?
5. Humor, Contempt, and Tragedy, All in One.
Crane's story is remarkable for a number of reasons, including his evocation of a vast range of emotions—from chilling tragedy to brotherly companionship. Ask students to read the first part of section II of the story (through to "The cook was bailing.") The captain has just expressed his pessimistic view of their situation:
Then the captain, in the bow, chuckled in a way that expressed humor, contempt, tragedy, all in one. "Do you think we've got much of a show, now, boys?" said he.
While the captain manages to rally his remaining crew, his statement reveals the range of emotions written into the story. Continue reading with students, beginning with the sentence "Canton flannel gulls flew near and far..." to the end of that paragraph. Ask them:
Considering the captain's words above, how is this paragraph humorous, contemptuous, and tragic, all in one?
Start with humorous, since students are likely to recognize the humor of the bird landing on the captain's head, and the captain's breathing easier "on account of his hair" (given the situation, worrying about one's hair seems almost ludicrous). Students might then point out the seeming indignity of a bird on the captain's head, and the contempt nature seems to show for the crew of the dinghy. The gruesome and ominous feelings shared by the other crew-members gives the paragraph a tragic air, as though some doom was just foreshadowed. Emphasize Crane's ability to evoke such a wide range of emotions from a single passage, and ask students to consider:
How do these varying emotions build upon each other to create the mood of the scene?
How does the third-person narration aid in creating such a scene?
What is the relationship between man and nature as evoked in this scene?
To complete the activity, ask students to suggest other passages that combine emotions to evoke a complex mood. Ask them to consider the relationship of man to nature in each example they put forward. The most obvious, of course, is the mixture of relief and tragedy at the end of the story, when the oiler—ironically the strongest of the entire group—drowns, and the captain—his injury having made him weak—survives.
In what way does this relate or not relate to how nature has been portrayed thus far?
Does Crane see nature as arbitrary, malicious, or something else?
Some students might argue that the situation appears to be a twist of the "survival of the fittest." Encourage them to consider the whole of the story—since the oiler exerted so much energy rowing, in what way did his choice disrupt this natural order? How does the captain survive (he holds on to the overturned dinghy)?
Assessment
Ask students to write a brief essay considering how the third-person omniscient
narrator enabled the author to relate this tale of tragedy and survival in the
open seas. If you are also teaching the EDSITEment
lesson plan on Jack London's "To Build a Fire," ask students to write an
essay comparing and contrasting the narrator in each story.
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