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Learn about the short story by Stephen Crane, based on his own experience of a shipwreck. Find the full text, summary, character analysis, and quotes from “The Open Boat.”
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"The Open Boat" is a short story by American author Stephen Crane (1871–1900). First published in 1898, it was based on Crane's experience of surviving a shipwreck off the coast of Florida earlier that year while traveling to Cuba to work as a newspaper correspondent.
A seat in this boat was not unlike a seat upon a jumpy horse, and a horse is not much smaller. The boat was much like an animal. As each wave came, and she rose for it, she seemed like a horse leaping over a high fence. The manner of her ride over these walls of water is a thing of mystery. Each wave required a new leap, and a leap from the air ...
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- 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.
- As the boat bounced from the top of each wave, the wind tore through the hair of the hatless men, and as the craft plopped her stern down again the spray splashed past them.
- It would be difficult to describe the subtle brotherhood of men that was here established on the seas. No one said that it was so. No one mentioned it.
- "Cook," remarked the captain, "there don't seem to be any signs of life about your house of refuge." "No," replied the cook. "Funny they don't see us!"
A short summary of Stephen Crane's The Open Boat. This free synopsis covers all the crucial plot points of The Open Boat.
A brief overview of the story of four men who survive a shipwreck and struggle to reach shore in a lifeboat. Learn about the themes, characters, and literary devices of this classic short story by Stephen Crane.
“The Open Boat” is based on the sinking of a steamer called the Commodore on January 2, 1897 off the coast of Florida. Stephen Crane himself was aboard the Commodore with intentions of going to Cuba to cover the Spanish-American War as a journalist.
