The Open Boat - Steven Crane

The first thing that appealed to me about this story is that it was based on a true actual event. The more real a story seems to be, the more it appeals to me. As the story began, it was immediately full of vibrant details of the surrounds. It was immediately shown that the water was rough and unstable. This gave a touch of suspense. As first seen in Cranes biography, the evidence of life and death as portrayed in the Bible is shown through symbolism. We are all floating through life in a small boat with uncertainty all around us. We may sink and drown or we may be sought and rescued. As we view these men with their different personalities, thoughts and worries, they all have the desire to live and find solid ground.
The Captain is the one who holds it together with his crew and keeps their dingey going in the “right” direction. He keeps his crew encouraged while all along lacking in courage himself because of his occasional mentioning of not wanting to drown. From time to time they see “light” and try to get to the light but the closer they get to it, the rougher the waters get. To me, this shows how people want “light,” but when they get close and their surroundings began to get rough, they tend to want to turn around and find and easier path.
The crew realizes that their time is running out and they need to take their chances and try to make it to shore. As they approach the shore, the waters get very rough and the current works hard against them and this is when that must sink or swim. As the four men tried to make their way to the shore after falling from their boat, three survived but Oiler was the one who didn’t. This scenario remind me of the Bible story when Jesus asked Peter to come to him and step out of the boat and walk upon the water to come to him. Peter did, but when he took his eyes off of Jesus, he began to sink. I believe that Oiler is the representation of Peter. From start to finish on this story, there is many links and references to the Bible. This once again reaffirms the strong background he had in faith and his family roots in church.