Monday, November 24, 2008

The Open Boat Essay

Amita Bose
Mr.Salsich
English 8
November 21, 2008

A Theme and Personification
An Essay about the Theme of “The Open Boat” and Personification
When you are rowing a ten foot dinghy in the middle of a roaring sea storm, thousands of thoughts must be flying through your mind. You would be scared, panicked, and anxious, but you might also unearth a glimmer of solace in the fact that you will keep on rowing, no matter what happens. In the short story, “The Open Boat” by Stephen Crane, four crew members of the steamer, “Commodore”, take comfort in their perseverance, as they struggle to reach land after their ship sunk in a storm. I feel that the theme of this short story was to always persevere, despite the numerous and perilous obstacles you may face.

TS Throughout the story, the four crew members learn to persevere, and Stephen Crane emphasizes this theme by skillfully using personification. SD As the men discover perseverance, they come to cherish their routines. CM They know that as they continue to row, another man will relieve them of their duty when they are ready to be “plunged in slumber.” CM This routine gives the crew members a glimmer of joy as they continue to steer the dingy, waiting for when their time to rest will arrive. SD Also, the crew must persevere to survive. CM If the stopped rowing, even for an hour, the boat would veer completely of course, and they would be lost forever. CM The four men must endure exhaustion, hunger, and stinging weather, in order to make it back to the safety and comfort of land.
SD Lastly, the author, Stephen Crane, intertwines personification with the beautiful sentences and paragraphs of this story, to accentuate the theme of perseverance. CM When the author wrote, “[the boat] seemed like a horse making at a fence outrageously high”, the reader can clearly grasp just how hard it was for the crew members to control the dingy in the midst of a raging sea storm. CM The boat and the four men in it made it through the storm because they persevered, and refused to be thwarted by the roaring winds and rolling waves. CS The four men aboard the dingy discover the beauty of perseverance, and Stephen Crane emphasizes the magnificence of persevering through personification.

The crew members of the sunken “Commodore” learned many things while struggling for survival in the middle of a storm in the ocean. The most prevalent thing they learned was to always persevere. If the men had given up, then they would have most likely died in that storm. The theme of this story shows you just how important it is to always persevere, and maybe, just maybe, your perseverance will be what gets you through your darkest hour.


Amita Bose
Self-Evaluation
1) The introduction of this essay took me the most time to write.
2) As I was writing, I often went back and changed any spelling or grammatical mistakes that I found.
3) I think the best part of my essay is the third chunk in the body paragraph because it seems to roll smoothly.
4) I think that my conclusion could be improved because it doesn’t seem to flow well.