Selfless Society Exposed In Stephen Crane's The Open Boat

Victoria Roth once quoted that “There is power in self-sacrifice.” That if people put aside their differences and work together, they can make the impossible possible. Unfortunately, achieving a true selfless nature is not an easy task as there are countless social norms that must be defied. However, throughout the years it has been proven that when faced with disaster, people abandon their selfish ways and altruistically cooperate. An excellent example of this would be the Kyoto Protocol, the first agreement between nations to commit to country-by-country reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions in order to combat global warming. Another exceptional example of this would be in the short story “The Open Boat” by Stephen Crane. In the story, a

“The waves were frighteningly rapid and tall” on ocean that they sailed (Crane 246). The author even states that “many a man ought to have a bathtub larger than the boat” they sailed (Crane 247). These descriptions show that life on the dinghy was truly disastrous, therefore forcing them to work together. They did this by assigning three different tasks: bailing water, rowing, and guiding. However, after numerous hours of this, the men’s, and especially the oarsman's, jobs became less of a task and more of a fight to survive. At this point, the bond between the men is very strong and can be seen in the obedience towards each other. Whenever the oiler or correspondent asks the other to take his place in rowing, they would always immediately reply with “Sure”. Also, when the cook was told to “‘Bail her out!’”, he would obediently respond with “‘Alright, Captain’” (Crane 263). Even in the final scene, when they are all swimming separately towards shore, their bond prevails because when the captain, who is still holding on their abandoned boat, risks his safety to offer his hand to help the correspondent. All of this combined evidence shows that their setting supports the theme of this