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Short stories analysis

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Short stories analysis

In the short story written by Stephen Crane, he tells the readers of a tale that emphasizes

or focuses on the things that take place around four men who are making attempts to reach land

after they experience a shipwreck in the ocean (Crane, 2017). The story of Crane basically

depicts the battle that man wages against the unpredictable forces of nature and the indifferent

and malevolent character of God. Most of the elements and the flow of the story of Crane depicts

the indifference of nature and the role of God, and the need for God to establish Himself in the

life of man for him to survive. The story shows how the indifference of nature gives a clear

representation of the indifference characteristic of God (Crane, 2017). The metaphoric language

that Crane uses in his story shows that God is central when it comes to the survival and success

of man (Crane, 2017). Similarly, the story “To Build a Fire” depicts the insensitivity of man to

work together with nature and the indifferent character of God to survive (London, 2021).

Because of the pride of man in both the story, I believe that God is indifferent and He is not just

letting free will play because the man in both the stories erroneously form the belief that it is not

necessary to seek God’s intervention in any problem because he is able to encounter all the

challenges that come thereof.

Both “The Open Boat” and “To Build a Fire” are distinctly American based on the

similarities of their thematic explorations and the settings of both stories. The setting for “The

Open Boat” occurs on a boat in the middle of the sea in the coastal regions of Florida, and he

mentions the city of North East Florida, the islands found in the coastal regions of Florida, and

the lighthouse that depicts the Mosquito Inlet. This strongly suggests that the story is distinctly

American (Crane, 2017). On the contrary, “To Build a Fire” also takes place in the Yukon

Territory in Canada, where thousands of miners are travelling to Yukon to mine the recently
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discovered gold. All these clearly show that both the stories are distinctly American (London,

2021).

Both the stories show how humans are small and inferior to nature. This is evident when

both the characters in the stories are not able to determine the outcome of nature or control it for

their own survival. In both the stories, nature is regarded as the antagonist that has the power to

challenge the survival ability of man constantly. In the story “The Open Boat”, it is shown that

man is not capable of controlling nature, however how much they try. Throughout this story, the

characters must fight for their survival against nature, a fight they are not likely to win (Crane,

2017). On the contrary, in “To Build a Fire,” nature is regarded as cruel but may be beautiful at

times. In this story, man faces nature by himself, which later leads to his destruction (London,

2021). From the two stories, nature is regarded as an enemy of man created by God that doesn’t

notice or care about what happens to humans.

Twain uses satire to mock the different lifestyles that various people lead and the

different general aspects of a particular society, especially the American society. He uses ridicule

to criticize and expose different individuals who practice hypocrisy (Twain, 2020). Twain pokes

fun at hypocritic parents who do not uphold the prohibitions that they give to their children

(Twain, 2020).
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References

Crane, S. (2017). The open boat and other tales of adventure. Doubleday & McClure Company.

London, J. (2021). To build a fire. Strelbytskyy Multimedia Publishing.

Twain, M. (2020). The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Strelbytskyy

Multimedia Publishing.