Bila Lee
English 48B
February 13, 2009
Journal #12 Stephen Crane
Quote
“During this dismal night, it may be remarked that a man would conclude that it was really the intention of the seven mad gods to drown him, despite the abominable injustice of it. For it was certainly an abominable injustice to drown a man who had worked so hard, so hard. The man felt it would be a crime most unnatural. Other people had drowned at sea since galleys swarmed with painted sails, but still – ” (Crane 1011).
Summary
The four men in the short story were in a very dangerous
situation, and they were nearly drowned to death. The above quote was extracted from Chapter VI of “The Open Boat,” in which I guess was murmured by the correspondent because he was ambiguously employed by Stephen Crane to narrate the entire story. I pick this quote partly because it developed an arguable dispute if Crane had injected some religious matters into his text, and partly because it brought a philosophical matter to investigate the internal struggle of a person when he/she knew he/she had a high probability to die soon. Though Billie the Oiler died eventually when the Captain, the Cook and the Correspondent survived, it was indeed a naturalistic and masterpiece story which followed Crane’s style.
Responses
Stephen Crane was raised in a family with a Methodist minister father and a social reform-minded mother. However, Crane was an individual who “systematically rejected religious and social traditions” (Wikipedia). Yet, one of the most heated debate topics in today’s class meeting was whether religious matters were added to his famous novel, “The Open Boat.” I advocate the side that Crane held no intentions to get involved in Christianity, and I think it was only his and his fellows’ instinct to blame God when they were facing danger. It was particularly remarkable that Crane wrote the story based on a recent experience of his steamer, “The Commodore,” sank off the coast of Florida.
To a certain extent, humans are the strangest organism in terms of our mind. We tend to point a finger at some unknown externalities when we are trapped in difficulty, problems, and in this very story, a serious sinking which might cause deaths. Apparently, the narrator desperately thought it was injustice to him, his friends and the boat; he blamed the God for creating this unfair incident. But with an eyes to his following statement, “Yes, but I love myself,” (Crane 1011) I think he was in an insensational mode that he was thinking irrationally. The correspondent did not want to die too soon, or in such an innocent way, and hence he wanted to blame someone and excused some being ought to accountable for the tragedy. I further believe Crane used “God” rather than “Mohammed” nor “Allah” simply because Christianity had been the most widely-distributed religion in the world, and human beings are thereby dependent on God. It is common to hear “Oh My God” when you did something wrongly or “Thanks God” when you did something pleasingly – yet, it has nothing to deal with religion.
To conclude, I think the narrator was so desperate and helpless that he wished to express his internal mood, and did not relate to any religious matter.
English 48B
February 13, 2009
Journal #12 Stephen Crane
Quote
“During this dismal night, it may be remarked that a man would conclude that it was really the intention of the seven mad gods to drown him, despite the abominable injustice of it. For it was certainly an abominable injustice to drown a man who had worked so hard, so hard. The man felt it would be a crime most unnatural. Other people had drowned at sea since galleys swarmed with painted sails, but still – ” (Crane 1011).
Summary
The four men in the short story were in a very dangerous
situation, and they were nearly drowned to death. The above quote was extracted from Chapter VI of “The Open Boat,” in which I guess was murmured by the correspondent because he was ambiguously employed by Stephen Crane to narrate the entire story. I pick this quote partly because it developed an arguable dispute if Crane had injected some religious matters into his text, and partly because it brought a philosophical matter to investigate the internal struggle of a person when he/she knew he/she had a high probability to die soon. Though Billie the Oiler died eventually when the Captain, the Cook and the Correspondent survived, it was indeed a naturalistic and masterpiece story which followed Crane’s style.Responses
Stephen Crane was raised in a family with a Methodist minister father and a social reform-minded mother. However, Crane was an individual who “systematically rejected religious and social traditions” (Wikipedia). Yet, one of the most heated debate topics in today’s class meeting was whether religious matters were added to his famous novel, “The Open Boat.” I advocate the side that Crane held no intentions to get involved in Christianity, and I think it was only his and his fellows’ instinct to blame God when they were facing danger. It was particularly remarkable that Crane wrote the story based on a recent experience of his steamer, “The Commodore,” sank off the coast of Florida.
To a certain extent, humans are the strangest organism in terms of our mind. We tend to point a finger at some unknown externalities when we are trapped in difficulty, problems, and in this very story, a serious sinking which might cause deaths. Apparently, the narrator desperately thought it was injustice to him, his friends and the boat; he blamed the God for creating this unfair incident. But with an eyes to his following statement, “Yes, but I love myself,” (Crane 1011) I think he was in an insensational mode that he was thinking irrationally. The correspondent did not want to die too soon, or in such an innocent way, and hence he wanted to blame someone and excused some being ought to accountable for the tragedy. I further believe Crane used “God” rather than “Mohammed” nor “Allah” simply because Christianity had been the most widely-distributed religion in the world, and human beings are thereby dependent on God. It is common to hear “Oh My God” when you did something wrongly or “Thanks God” when you did something pleasingly – yet, it has nothing to deal with religion.To conclude, I think the narrator was so desperate and helpless that he wished to express his internal mood, and did not relate to any religious matter.
20 points. I agree that Crane's perspective was anti-religious.
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