How we cite our quotes: (Section.Paragraph)
Quote #4
They then briefly exchanged some addresses and admonitions. (4.12)
Sartre argued that by acknowledging death and embracing nothingness, one eliminates anxiety and finds freedom. This scene here is powerfully reminiscent of a similar scene in another great proto-existential sea-faring story, Moby-Dick. After a terrifying near-death experience, Ishmael, the narrator, starts to feel like life is just a big practical joke. So he takes a moment to write his last will and testament, and immediately feels a thousand pounds lighter. These men don't immediately feel that much better, but it's their first step toward that goal.
Quote #5
"So it is. It's his coat. He's taken it off and is waving it around his head. But would you look at him swing it."
"He must think we like to see him do that. Why don't he quit it. It don't mean anything." (4.60, 72)
Did you notice in the quote above, that word "absurd" sort of snuck in at the end? Well here's the real absurd moment in "The Open Boat." For real, it's more like something out of Becket than Crane. We're particularly struck by how mesmerized the men in the boat are by the swinging coat. You can just picture them staring at the coat as it spins around the guy's head. But then in the second line, the hammer really comes down: "It don't mean anything," one of them says, and it's true; the guy really isn't trying to communicate anything by swinging his coat like that. The bigger question is: What in this world does have meaning?
Quote #6
During this dismal night, it may be remarked that a man would conclude that it was really the intention of the seven mad gods to drown him, despite the abominable injustice of it. 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. (6.2)
Here's another characteristically existentialist theme: despair. Sure, it's only natural, after the disappointment of not being rescued as they thought they would, and the fear and loneliness that often creeps up when night falls. But once again, Crane is really stressing how betrayed the men feel they would be if they were to be killed after all they'd been through. That they believe in a universe where effort and virtue are rewarded, rather than punished. We'll see how that belief holds up by the end.