Captain Character Analysis in The Open Boat

The unnamed captain of the now-sunken Commodore also captains the lifeboat, instructing his makeshift crew (which is comprised of the correspondent, the oiler, and the cook). Though injured in the hand, the captain is dedicated to his companions and does whatever he can to help them, including staying awake all day and night. He remains emotionally strong throughout the story even though he is visibly grieving over his sunken Commodore and his failed responsibility of keeping its passengers safe. The captain is a quick and innovative thinker, which is demonstrated when he makes a sail out of his coat and a flag out of a bath towel and a branch, as well as when he instructs the cook to float on his back and row himself to shore like a boat rather than struggle to swim against the waves. The captain embraces uncertainty, making him a model for the other men and a counterpoint to the cook’s self-assuredness. The captain survives his time on the open sea despite his self-sacrificing behavior. He even insists to the life-saving man that the other men be rescued first.

Captain Quotes in The Open Boat

The The Open Boat quotes below are all either spoken by Captain or refer to Captain. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

It would be difficult to describe the subtle brotherhood of men that was here established on the seas. No one said that it was so. No one mentioned it. But it dwelt in the boat, and each man felt it warm him. They were a captain, an oiler, a cook, and a correspondent, and they were friends, friends in a more curiously iron-bound degree than may be common.

Related Characters: Oiler, Cook, Captain, Correspondent

Explanation and Analysis:

In this passage, the narrator is discussing the emotional bond that has formed between the four men on the lifeboat. Although the narrator is third-person limited—and thus only has insight into the correspondent’s inner life—the narrator somehow knows that all of the men feel connected to one another even though no one vocalizes it. This may suggest that the narrative style momentarily shifts from third-person limited to simply third-person omniscient, briefly giving the narrator insight into all of the men’s thoughts and feelings. However, it is likely that the narrator is instead giving into one of the same tendencies that Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat.

If I am going to be drowned—if I am going to be drowned—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? Was I brought here merely to have my nose dragged away as I way about to nibble the sacred cheese of life?

Related Characters: Correspondent, Captain, Cook, Oiler

Related Literary Devices:

Explanation and Analysis:

The narrator is recounting the thrice-repeated exclamation that the men say, regarding their disbelief and being allowed to come so close to shore only to potentially drown. The passage is rich with religious language and references. The men call upon the “seven mad gods who rule the sea,” which feels like a nod toward Greek or Roman mythology. Despite having a devout Methodist father, Stephen Crane rejected religion, so it makes sense that the men call up “seven mad gods” rather than a monotheistic God. The idea that the gods are “mad” also points to Crane’s difficulty with religion. While Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit

If this old ninny-woman, Fate, cannot do better than this, she should be deprived of the management of men’s fortunes. She is an old hen who knows not her intention. If she has decided to drown me, why did she not do it at the beginning and save me all this trouble? The whole affair is absurd… But no, she cannot mean to drown me. She dare not drown me. She cannot drown me. Not after all this work.

Related Characters: Captain, Cook, Oiler, Correspondent

Related Literary Devices:

Explanation and Analysis:

The narrator is explaining what the four men in the lifeboat feel about fate—that fate may as well be an elderly, out-of-touch woman who haphazardly decides the outcomes of mortals’ lives. One of the primary tenets of American naturalism is determinism—the belief that humans have no control over their fate. This is similar to the concept of predestination in Christian theology, particularly Calvinism, which argues that each person’s outcome (that is, whether they are destined for heaven or hell) is decided upon by God ahead of time. Given his own antireligious worldview, Crane keeps the idea of predestination but makes Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et

For it was certainly an abominable injustice to drown a man who had worked so hard, so hard. The man felt it would be a crime most unnatural. Other people had drowned at sea since galleys swarmed with painted sails, but still—

Related Characters: Captain, Cook, Oiler, Correspondent

Related Literary Devices:

Explanation and Analysis:

In this passage, the narrator explains the way the four men on the lifeboat feel that it is unjust for the universe to allow them to drown after they’ve worked so hard and can now see the shore. This passage shows the way that the men still try to use logic against the forces of fate and the universe by assuming that their hard work and suffering should earn their survival. The men try to project their own ideas about justice upon nature and fate, accusing the universe of planning to commit “a crime most unnatural” and “an abominable injustice.” Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessita

When it occurs to a man that nature does not regard him as important…he at first wishes to throw bricks at the temple, and he hates deeply the fact that there are no bricks and no temples. Any visible expression of nature would surely be pelleted with his jeers.

Related Characters: Captain, Oiler, Correspondent, Cook

Explanation and Analysis:

Here, the narrator explains how a man feels once he comes to terms with nature’s indifference to him. On the surface, the passage affirms that humans are entirely insignificant to nature—one of the foundational ideas of American naturalism and an important idea throughout the course of “The Open Boat.” The narrator asserts that humans are so insignificant in nature’s eyes, that even humankind’s most pointed criticism and sharpest anger toward nature is meaningless. Plus, humans have no real way to express their frustrations to anger, since there is no “visible expression of nature” like a “temple” for humans to throw Dolorem et

When it came night, the white waves paced to and fro in the moonlight, and the wind brought the sound of the great sea’s voice to the men on shore, and they felt that they could then be interpreters.

Related Characters: Correspondent, Cook, Captain

Explanation and Analysis:

In this closing passage, the narrator explains that the remaining three shipwreck survivors—the captain, the cook, and the correspondent—feel that they can interpret their experiences at sea. Throughout “The Open Boat,” the men begin to internalize the reality of nature’s unconcern for them and the way that fate is unexplainable and random. However, once the men are saved and safe on the shore, they seem to forget their learnings, trying to “be interpreters” of their experience by making sense of nature and fate. They wrongly understand the sound of the wind and waves to be “the great sea’s voice” that Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus

Captain Character Timeline in The Open Boat

The timeline below shows where the character Captain appears in The Open Boat. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Suffering, Survival, Empathy, and Community Theme Icon

...the other oar to propel them forward. The fourth and final passenger is the injured captain who gives the other men orders. He is in “mourning” over his now-sunken ship since... (full context)

The captain tells Billie, the oiler, to keep the lifeboat headed south. The lifeboat is compared to... (full context)

...that without it, the men wouldn’t have chance. The correspondent and oiler agree, but the captain laughs and says with “humor, contempt, and tragedy,” “Do you think we’ve got much of... (full context)

...voice it, because they feel that voicing their optimism would sound “childish and stupid.” The captain, as if “soothing his children,” says that they will make it to shore all right.... (full context)

...as “a covey of prairie chickens a thousand miles inland.” A bird lands on the captain’s head, but the captain can’t wave it away for fear of capsizing the boat in... (full context)

The captain says that he sees the lighthouse at Mosquito Inlet, and the cook sees it too.... (full context)

The men ask the captain if they will make it to shore, to which he replies by saying that they... (full context)

The cook and the correspondent attach the captain’s coat to the mast as a makeshift sail, which helps the men’s progress toward shore.... (full context)

The captain reminds the correspondent and the oiler to preserve their strength in case they are forced... (full context)

The captain realizes the house of refuge is empty, telling the cook, “there don’t seem to be... (full context)

The captain prepares the men to handle the situation without relying on help from life-saving people. He... (full context)

...the waves push them northward. Someone asks if they are nearing St. Augustine, but the captain says no. (full context)

...saved within a half hour now that they’ve been noticed. “By some weird chance,” the captain finds a stick floating in the water beside them and a bath towel in the... (full context)

...correspondent can’t see the waves until they are “almost upon the boat.” He asks the captain if the boat should still be headed north but is unsure the captain is still... (full context)

...the sea, a grotesque rendering of the old babes in the wood.” Eventually, even the captain seems to be asleep, and the correspondent feels like “the one man afloat on all... (full context)

When the captain finally sits up, the correspondent asks if he saw the shark in the middle of... (full context)

Later that evening, the captain instructs the oiler and the correspondent to sleep while the cook watches over the boat.... (full context)

...the correspondent takes the oars once more. Warmed by some whiskey and water from the captain, the correspondent jokingly threatens anyone who ever so much as shows him a picture of... (full context)

The captain says that if they linger for too much longer, they will waste all their strength.... (full context)

The captain affirms that the boat is bound to sink, and that they need to row close... (full context)

The men calmly and quietly prepare to abandon their lifeboat, and the captain reminds them to jump as far out from the boat as possible. The boat struggles... (full context)

...the other men. Nearby, the cook bobs up and down in the water, while the captain holds onto the overturned boat with his uninjured hand. The oiler is “ahead in the... (full context)

...and his progress to shore ceases. In the midst of the confusion, he hears the captain yelling to the cook to turn over on his back and use an oar to... (full context)

...correspondent out from the tide, allowing him to continue his journey toward the shore. The captain, still clutching the boat, yells for the correspondent to swim to the boat. In his... (full context)

...running and undressing lugs the cook to shore and plods through the waves to the captain, who gestures for the man to save the correspondent first. The naked man, who has... (full context)

...is grateful for the land regardless. The shore greets the correspondent, the cook, and the captain in a “warm and generous” way, as the shore swarms with people bearing blankets, coffee,... (full context)

Captain Character Analysis

Captain Quotes in The Open Boat

Part III Quotes

Part IV Quotes

Part VI Quotes

Part VII Quotes

Captain Character Timeline in The Open Boat