Natures Indifference to Man

Steven Miller

Professor Jodie Baeyens

LITR-221

May 26, 2013

Nature’s Indifference to Man

In “The Open Boat” by Stephen Crane, and “To Build a Fire” by Jack London both authors use naturalism, however, they use it in two different contexts to display the different conflicts. In “The Open Boat” there are two conflicts that are occurring; they consist of the men battling the weather, and the men battling themselves in order to come up with a solution to survive with a teamwork principle. In “To Build a Fire”, the conflict is between the main character, who thinks he is invincible to the harsh Yukon, and nature itself. However, regardless of the conflicts, naturalism states that events simply happen, and character’s actions are based upon the events. It does not matter whether or not Man is present in Nature; Nature will have the same effect on its surroundings. Men do not have the power to sway or change Nature, only the power to prepare and implement survival techniques.

In “The Open Boat”, four men were out on the ocean in a ship. Over the course of night the ship had sustained damage and sank, leaving the men stranded in the ocean. Luckily, the men were able to find refuge in a small dinghy. The ocean is portrayed to be so violent, that the men must be careful with every move they make, or the dinghy will capsize and the men will be stranded in the open waters with no protection at all. The four men in the boat consisted of the correspondent, cook, oiler, and captain. The men were working non-stop to stay alive and find refuge on land. Two of the men had the chore of rowing the boat, while the cook stayed busy bailing out water to keep the boat afloat. The captain had sustained an injury during the capsizing of the large boat, but he was still able to give the men direction.

The men had seen a lighthouse, and used their energy getting close to shore just to find out that the lighthouse had been abandoned and there was no one to come rescue them. The...