The Open Boat Literary Analysis

Paper 2: The Dawn of the Modern Era in Literature While Stephen Crane embraced modernity in The Open Boat, T.S. Eliot, and John Crowe Ransom found the dawning of modern society alarming in the “The Wasteland” and “Janet Waking.” As Crane tells society to “wake up” to the reality of nature and human existence, Eliot and Ransom struggle to pick up the pieces from an earlier time in order to find peace in the modern world. Eliot tries to bridge the gap between logic and creativity as Ransom looks back to the agrarian culture to cease the struggle between reason and sensibility in contemporary society. Once awoken, Eliot and Ransom yearn for the days of old and seek to find the true purpose of life, which seems lost to the modernist but evident
Crane guides his audience through an existential journey. “The correspondent, pulling at the other oar, watched the waves and wondered why he was there” (Crane 584). As Crane undergoes life and its turbulence, he asks the fundamental question of human existence: “Why am I here?” After asking this question, Crane receives no response. He hopes to hear something that would explain the absurdity of his current situation. He expects to understand why his ship is so close to shore, yet he and his crew are unable to swim to safety. Expecting help from the wind tower, Crane finds the dominating structure empty. “[The tower] represented in a degree, to the correspondent, the serenity of nature amid the struggles of the individual…” (Crane 597). This moment represents a crucial epiphany for the author. Once he discovers that nature’s counterpart is empty, containing no maker or operator, Crane concludes that nature is indifferent. This being so, Crane believes that when the romantic looks in his or herself to love God, they are simply loving themselves. “[P]erhaps, the desire to confront a personification and indulge in pleas, bowed to one knee, and with hands supplicant, saying: ‘Yes, but I love myself’”