Pathetic Fallacy In The Open Boat

People learn things every day, through the activities they participate in. They pick up new skills and knowledge. The knowledge people gain is in relation to experience. True knowledge stems from experience. One can directly experience something and learn from it, and pass on the experience to others to spread knowledge. Likewise, when one goes through any non-trivial experience, knowledge is generated and likely passed on. In this way, knowledge and experience are dependent on each other since knowledge relies on experience and experience results in knowledge. In the short story “The Open Boat”, Stephen Crane utilizes symbols, pathetic fallacy, and point of view to explore the relationship between knowledge and experience.

In the short story, the author uses the pathetic fallacy of the waves to explore the perceived experience and its resulting knowledge. Throughout the plots, the waves are repeatedly described with human features and emotions leading to the development of knowledge through the perception of the waves. Crane portrays the waves as alive and as if they have the intention of overturning the

The pathetic fallacy allows them and the reader to interpret their surrounding environment through an abstract form while the symbol of the ocean provides a more concrete source of information by illuminating the current experience and generating knowledge. The point of view is key in allowing both the reader and the crew to understand the current condition and hence the knowledge to be gained from the situation. They learn about their surroundings and interpret it all to understand what comes next in their journey, thus demonstrating the true correlation between experience and knowledge. Through the exploration of symbols, pathetic fallacy, and point of view, Stephen Crane thoroughly explained the relationship between experience and knowledge in his short story “The Open