Exploration of Existentialism in“The Open Boat”

李春蕾

（宁夏工商职业技术学院，宁夏 银川 750021）

1 Introduction to Stephen Crane and“The Open Boat”

1.1 Introduction to Stephen Crane

Stephen Crane,born in November,1897,was educated and enriched by the nutrition of literature in Claverack College,Lafayette College and Syracuse University.Meantime,it is widely-known that his whole life is influenced by the religious concepts,such as kindness,friendship,and indulgence,etc.

He has been awarded numerous glittering titles and is extensively valued by critics from all corners of the world.William Dean Howells complimented Crane that he could do things that Mark Twain can't.Charles C.Walcutt treated Crane as "an early and unique flowering of pure naturalism".Besides,Walcutt maintained that Crane was the first and purest American naturalist,and his influence stretched well into the Twentieth century.Although Stephen Crane has a short lifespan,he lacks no literary achievements.He has created thirteen novels,one play,three collections of poetry,and other eight correspondence and jottings.Among all these“The Open Boat”is one of the most excellent short stories.

1.2 Introduction to“The Open Boat”

The year 1897 witnessed the birth of Crane's most excellent short story "The Open Boat".It tells a story of four men in a small boat struggling to fight against the roaring sea,the nasty weather and the horrible nature.During the days on the boat,the poor four men come across many unexpected difficulties,as hunger,tiredness,and death.Despite the severe situation,they stick to hold the boat and try to keep it going,which connect the four poor souls tightly together.They paddle the boat in turn and fortunately most of them survive eventually.

2 Sartre’s Existentialism

Different brands of existentialism share one basic tenet,“existence precedes essence”,which means that“man first of all exists,encounters himself,surges up in the world—and defines himself afterwards.”Here“existence”referred to the existence of human beings.They believed the essence of human beings could only be obtained by their own choices and actions.This slogan suggested that existentialism was an active and optimistic school,which encouraged people to make their own life by efforts.

Sartre's doctrine basically discussed the concerns about the existence of human beings,building up a philosophical system to guide us how to envisage the problem of our life and live an active and optimistic life under the precondition of freedom.Man has to be responsible for all of his free choices.Freedom accompanied by responsibility sometimes is horrible for it could push man into the abyss of anguish and despair.In order to escape this kind of agony,man usually chooses to hide in bad faith.Above all,man cannot ignore that freedom is always freedom in situation.The existence of others is also one kind of situation of my freedom.Situation is indispensable to my existence.However,man still owns the freedom about how to deal with his situation.The fact that Sartre's existentialism is a theory of freedom determines that existentialism "is a doctrine of action",since "existence precedes essence".Man could thus only change his situations through his own actions.

3 Existentialism in“The Open Boat”

“The Open Boat”narrates a story of a captain,a cook,a correspondent and an oiler who endeavor to survive in a small boat in the vast and roaring sea.It can be seen from the story that the captain is rich in experiences,the correspondent used to be highly cynical of both man and the society,the cook is optimistic and the oiler has a strong body.The four people are from different social statuses with different education backgrounds and life experiences.But what is in common among them is that they now are trapped in the same situation and seek for the same goal — to survive in the roaring sea.Their presence at the same time in the story,to some extent,metaphorically indicates a mini-society.The roaring sea is the real world human beings live and the roaring sea and their fierce fight against the sea is the human being’s living condition.

3.1 The Absurdity of Existence

In the opening part,the correspondent has no idea why he is in the boat thinks he is just like in a dream.Sartre holds an opinion that men’s existence is just product of contingency.The contingency of the world makes man unable to grasp or control the reality,because the reality is full of uncertainties,which renders people feel absurd and empty in the deep heart.The story vividly depicts the situation of the four characters in the little boat.In the extremely terrible situation,people are most vulnerable psychologically.Hence,they need mental forces to help themselves from being destroyed spiritually.However,what is out of their expectation is that the mental forces that can help them become strongminded ——God is not present and the nature is not merciful at all.The poor four people have to tell whether it is day or night through the color of the sea.Although they know the color of the sea and indirectly get to know the time,their view is strongly restricted.The restriction directly causes their uncertainties.What they concern most,of course,is not the color of the sea.What they worry about now and what is also the responsibility of each of them is how to sail the boat safely to the shore.But there is no doubt that the uncertainties make the basis for the subsequent uncertainties,indicating that man’s perception is full of uncertainties.Man always holds an opinion that the objective world can be controlled.As a matter of fact,man is out of ability to control it.In the beginning,the four people just lay their hope on somewhere uncertain.They hope someone on the land may find and save them.The cook is the most optimistic,which can be seen from his conversation with the correspondent：“There’s a house of refuge just north of the Mosquito Inlet Light,and as soon as they see us,they’ll come off in their boat and pick us up”.The argument of the two seems to have inspired everyone with hope.Seaweed and wind blowing towards the shore make everyone believe that the situation is not that terrible.Meanwhile,big waves that may appear anytime make them alert,thinking that expressing optimism now is naive and stupid.When they finally see the refuge house,“there don not seem to be any signs of life”.The cook says several times:“Funny they do not see us! ”,which shows his deep despair.The terrible result is what they do not want to see and face.They have to choose to face the reality courageously.No one is sure about their safe arrival at the shore.In front of the tempestuous sea,they are lonely and helpless.But still,they do not want to die after suffering so much.They are angry and helpless.All of a sudden,they feel that everything is so absurd.

In the absurdity,Crane tries to connect the metaphorical but cruel world with the characters’ inner activities in a special circumstance,seeking and showing the value of the humanity.In his arrangement,the hugeness and the weakness are sharply contrasted:“the craft pranced and reared and plunged like an animal.As each wave came,and she rose for it,she seemed like a horse making at a fence outrageously high……the foam racing down from the summit of each wave requiring a new leap,and a leap from the air”Then,“after scornfully bumping a crest,she (the boat) would slide and race and splash down a long incline,and arrive bobbing and nodding in front of the next menace”.

The readers cannot see the struggle of the four,but they can easily sense their inner struggles,which come from the instinct of life.The four in the boat may avoid the huge waves under the guidance of the captain,but they do not know how long they can hold out.However,they still do not give up:they are still highly alert about the waves and still hope that someone may come and save them.Man who appears on the shore gives them hope again.What is unfortunate is they have no idea what the man is doing.This again signifies the uncertainty of human beings’perception.Darkness dwells and what they hope does not appear.The nature jokes them for a second time.Each of them is exhausted and desperate.Everything seems that absurd and of nothingness.Everything seems meaningless.The absurdity further inspires the man’s emotional help from nature.But the nature is so indifferent.Albert Camus claims that it is from conflict of the people’s need from the outside world and the unreasonable response from it that absurdity occurs.

In the story,Crane describes the indifference of the nature in a lifeliking way.Whatever men do and how desperate they are,the nature is just indifferent.In this way,Crane presents the readers a perfect metaphor of the reality——the nature is so indifferent that it does not take men’s efforts seriously at all.Men,thrown back and forth,may be killed by the cutting and blinding storm.They begin to think about the meaning of life.They are questioning God.Unfortunately,God is not present in this absurd world.“When it occurs to a man that nature does not regard him as important…… he hates deeply the fact that there are no bricks and no temples”.They come to understand that what they can do only is to save themselves by themselves.What is absurd is that,in the final struggle,the oiler who is strongest and is moving fastest,dies while the rest are saved,including the injured captain.This further explains the absurdity and uncertainty of the existence.The nature does not care who struggles hardest and does not save people according to the rule of“survival of the fittest”.It is indifferent.The world is absurd and uncertain.

3.2 Power of Humanity

Since the existence of human beings is absurd and uncertain and the nature is indifferent to human,what is the meaning of the existence?What can man do in facing up the absurdity and nothingness? To be or not to be,this is a question.Sartre holds that people have to choose because he thinks,choosing is one’s survival ability;man cannot choose to not choose,just like he cannot reject his own existence and no matter he chooses to be satisfied with the current situation or he chooses to change even surpass it because of dissatisfaction,it is choosing.

In the boat,although the four are all in terrible situation,they are alert enough in minding the danger.They choose to be responsible both to themselves and to the small group.When a gull is intending to land on the head of the captain to keep paralleling flight with the boat,the captain does not“knock it away with the end of the heavy painter”,for anything resembling an emphatic gesture would have capsized this freighted boat”.The oiler and the correspondent are taking turns in rowing the boat.Each shift is quite difficult for them.We can roughly get the idea from the following detailed descriptions about the difficulties and carefulness of changing seats in the boat:“First the man in the stern slid his hand along the thwart and moved with care,as if he were of Sevres.Then the man in the rowing seat slid his hand along the other thwart.It was all done with the most extraordinary care.As the two sidled past each other,the whole party kept watchful eyes on the coming wave,and the captain cried ‘Look out now! Steady’.”The four never give up.It is what they choose to do in the absurd and uncertain world that gives meaning to the existence.

Existentialism thinks that the meaning of existence is realized by men’s free choice.The four men’s existence is realized by their choice of being unified in the difficulty and cultivating deep brotherhood or comradeship.In the story,it is not only unlikely for the four characters to depend on others to save them,but also to get the nature’s mercy.The roaring waves do not die down;on the contrary,they intensify.It is easy to imagine their desperateness.However,there is always a kind of force supporting them,which is the brotherhood established in the suffering.The brotherhood warms everyone on the boat,offering them courage of overcoming the extremity.The injured captain,with rich experiences,is in charge of offering guidance.Everyone else follows without any complaint.In the captain’s eyes,“he (the captain) could never command a more ready and swiftly obedient crew than the motley three of the dinghy”.They never care others so much and they never feel so united as one.The care,consideration and unity is achieved not by words but through actions.The oiler and the correspondent oar and shift until the one reaches“the last stages of exhaustion”and the partner’s answer is always a confirmative“sure”to the question“will you spell me?”.This brotherhood supports them to the last moment they get saved.The end of the story,when the people on the shore run to rescue the captain while the captain asks them to save the correspondent first.At this moment,men are so selfless.“He (The captain) was naked—naked as a tree in the winter;but a halo was about his head,and he shone like a saint.”

4 Conclusion

“The Open Boat”has deep connotation.Philosophically speaking,by it,Crane demonstrates the current living conditions of human being,questions the meaning of existence.On the one hand,he uses the cruelty of the environment to set off the insignificance of human beings’existence,portraying the world’s absurdity,uncertainty and nothingness.On the other hand,he affirms man’s optimistic choice in the absurdity,uncertainty and nothingness,highly approving the power of humanity.It is without any exaggeration to say that the story is“the crown of all his works”,which“would,even if he had written nothing else,have placed him where he now undoubtedly stands”.

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