The Literature Network - Contemplating sand and trees in "The Open Boat" and the Odyssey.(Critical essay)

Contemplating sand and trees in "The Open Boat" and the Odyssey.(Critical essay)

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From: The Humanist
Date: 20060501
Author:Meacham, Meredith

THE CORRESPONDENT IN "The Open Boat," a short story published by Stephen Crane in 1898, poses the following question as he and three companions are adrift at sea after a shipwreck: "If I am going to be drowned, why, in the name of the seven mad gods who rule the sea, was I allowed to come thus far and contemplate sand and trees?" A similar question could have been asked by Odysseus in the Odyssey as he traversed the seas for ten years, though it would have elicited a quite different response. In Homer's world the outcomes of Odysseus' situation are determined by responsive and ...

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