"The Open Boat" was written by Stephen Crane based on his own experience being shipwrecked on a dinghy while on a journey to Cuba in 1896. Crane uses imagery throughout the story to make readers get pulled in. The imagery that he uses causes the reader to feel like they are actually part of the crew, going through the same things that the characters are. It causes the reader to feel the hatred toward the universe that the crew feels. The battle during the story is mainly Man vs. Universe. Crane shows two major ideas that are very apparent in the short story. The first is how during times of stress, men can practically lose their minds and let go of civilization. They become unable to make rational decisions. They have been placed by nature in a situation which is completely out of their hands. They are tired, hungry, and irritable, which makes it all the more possible for the "brute within" to be released. Once this is released, they are virtually crazy due to the need for survival. The second idea is the same idea that Crane bases a lot of his pieces on, that nature is indifferent to all people. The men realize that they have no control over what's happening to them, and that it was by coincidence. The universe did not pick them, nor did "she" owe them any mercy. Crane shows his beliefs very obviously in this short story. He puts ideas in the reader's mind that causes them to ponder what they think about how the world works. The ideas make us question whether there is a higher power that truly does work for us, or if the world is just indifferent to us and neither works for nor against us.
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