Journal #20 Stephen Crane

Shirly Ong
English 48B
22 February, 2008
Journal #20 Stephen Crane

Quote:
“’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?’”

Summary:
This quote is depicting the thought of the correspondent as time passes after the ship sunk.

Response:
In the story, the four characters are encountering fierce waves, which threatened to drown them for many times. By the time this quote appears, they have already survived many dangerous situations. This quote illustrates the thought of the correspondent when he was once again facing a horrible condition. He doubts why the Gods who rule the sea would let him survive so many terrible situations if he was going to drown. It seems that he was persuading himself to stay alive. He was also persuading himself that he would not be drowned. His thought was very reasonable to me. Why would the God not drown him once the ship sunk but let him survived so many dangers before drowning? Moreover, he repeated “if I am going to be drowned” three times in the quote. To me, it shows the Correspondent‘s fear. I think this quote indicate the Correspondent’s faith was diminishing. After experiencing a series of dangers, he feared that he might not be able to survive the next one. I believe that this fear is natural and common. Portraying the Correspondent’s fear, Stephen Crane aims to reveal the human psychological responses under dangers. The fierce waves, threatening the characters’ lives, also reveal the nature’s indifference to human’s fate and lives. This has been the theme of many works by Stephen Crane. I agree that the nature is indifferent to human’s lives. In real world, natural disasters have brought so much sorrow to many families. Many people lost their loved ones in natural disasters like earthquakes, hurricanes and flooding. Many of the victims were good fathers and mothers. Yet, they lost their lives and their children lost their parents. Nature is often cruel and indifferent to us but we have no ways to alter it. The only thing we can do is to treasure what we have before they are taken away.