Cosmic Irony in Stephen Cranes The Open Boat :: Open Boat Essays

Cosmic Irony in Stephen Cranes The Open Boat      Stephen Cranes The Open Boat, is thought to be one of the finest storiesever written by an American.  Crane uses a theme of cosmic irony.  Cosmic ironyis the belief that the institution is so large and man is so small that theuniverse is indifferent to the plight of man.  In The Open Boat, Cranes theme,cosmic irony, is illustrated through the use of symbols for isolation,insignificance, and indifference.  Three specific examples of cosmic ironysymbolism used by Crane are, the power of the ocean against the insignificanceof the boat, the sea against the universe, and the bantam boat in a vast seafrom the people on the shore.      The indifference aspect of cosmic irony is where things serve no purpose,and at that place is truly no care for anyone or anything.  In The Open Boat, thepower of the ocean against the insignificance of the boat, is a prime example ofindifference used by Crane.  The universe is represented by the power of theocean, and the small boat in this ocean is symbolic of man in this giantuniverse.  The immaculate power of the ocean is very indifferent to the smallboat, just as our great universe could not care less for man.      Insignificance is described as being a lack of importance.  Those precisethings that are insignificant mean nothing to the universe.  In The Open Boat,the sea against the universe is symbolic of insignificance in cosmic irony.  Thesea represents something which seems very large to mankind, tho is actually veryinsignificant in comprison to the universe.  The universe would still go onwithout that sea, just like the universe would still go on without mankind.      The one-third form of symbolism in cosmic irony is isolation.  Isolation isbeing held in captivity or lack of contact with the world or universe.  Thelittle boat in a vast se a versus the people on the shore is symbolic ofisolation.  The small boal seems so large and important to the people on it,while the people on the shore just see this small boat as one of many objects in