Journal entry# 28 Stephen Crane

Siu Faat Jimmy Wong
English 48b
February 22, 2008
Professor Lankford

Quote:

The birds sat comfortably in groups, and they were envied by some in the dingey, for the wrath of the sea was no more to them…the birds struck at their minds at this time as being somehow grewsome and ominous.

Summary:

There is a group of gulls which stays in the men’s dingey and makes the men angry.

Response:

To be honest, before I went to the class on Wednesday, I didn’t really pay any attention on the gulls. Indeed, the gulls appeared in the second chapter of “the Open Boat”. Apart from the four men, the gulls were playing an important role in the story. My interpretation is that the gulls were actually contrasts to the men. Although the men were stronger in shapes and they could wave the gulls away easily with their hands, they still had to rely on the little dingey. However, a smaller gull can fly to anywhere with its wings. When the men saw the gulls, they might also want to have a pair of wings on their backs in order not to suffer in the sea. I think this is the major reason why the birds “were envied by some in the dingey”. Moreover, in the quote, it shows me that the men perceived the gulls as something “grewsome and ominous”.

After I finished the story, I think it was true that the gulls would really bring bad lucks to the men. Otherwise, they did not have to undergo the disappointment and the sadness of losing the oiler. However, what I think is that they have no choice. Since their ship was wrecked, they could just rely on that little dingey. They could not turn back or stay in the original positions. Although they knew that there might be some bad things which might happen on them, they still had to go forward. At this point, I really appreciate the writing style of Stephen Crane. He could really explain that human beings do not have the right to change their fates, just like what we discussed in the class that “life sucks”.