ENG 101
Feb. 3, 2011

The Open Boat Compare and Contrast Essay Rough Draft

This paper is about the story “The Open Boat” written by Stephen Crane. In this paper, I will try to provide the similarities of the original story with the newspaper account. The differences in each article will also be discussed. Lastly, I will provide a conclusion based on the facts of both articles. "The Open Boat'' begins with a description of men aboard a small boat on a rough sea. These men are all survivors of a shipwreck. There is the cook, overweight and sloppily dressed, who is trying to remove water from the bottom of the boat. The oiler, a physically powerful man named Billie who is rowing with one oar. There is …show more content…
The oiler is face down in the shallow water, dead. The three living men are fed and their needs tended to. That night they listen to the sound of the waves against the shore “and they felt that they could be interpreters.” The newspaper story is much more blunt and to the point. Mr. Crane describes more of the dreary and dark aspects of this whole account, as opposed to the original story. The fact is, this is a newspaper article. It seems to me that this article is more of a summary in itself of the original story, focusing on more of the mishaps and desperation of each man and the fear they have of drowning with no hope in site. The newspaper article also focuses more on the thoughts of the men not leaving each other and joining each other in almost certain death, as if they were thinking, we came this far together, we will go to the end together as well, even if it is death. Even though the newspaper to me is dark and dreary, more than the original account, I can pick out more of a stick together attitude. I believe the reason this is darker and to the point is because it is a newspaper. There are some similarities in both articles. The overall story of the desperation of the four men on the boat stays the same. Both stories do focus on the thoughts of the men drowning and perhaps this being their last run together. Each story also focuses on the camaraderie of the men and their dedication to each other and to the Commodore. There are