"The open boat" - Stephen Crane

2. Sum up the personalities of each of the four men in the boat: captain, cook, oiler and correspondent.

The captain- the captain of the drowned ship. When he loses his ship to the sea, he suffers more then the other survivors. He injured and becomes a broken man who has lost the very thing that provided him authority. The captain is calm and quiet, alert and cool-headed, talking for the most part only to give directions and lead the men to shore. He feels responsible for the survivors and tries to get them to safety. 

The cook- He was the cook of the ship. He is a positive even a naive man. He is the first one to suggest the presence of a lifesaving station. The cook is not strong enough to row so he only bail the water and getting silly arguments with the correspondent. In the middle of the story, the cook began to dream about pies and other food, convinced that the will survive.

The Oiler(Billy)- The oiler is a good-working man, strong, obedient, polite, courageous. He is the most realistic of the man, never losing sight of the task at hand or the slim chance they have of surviving and never giving up hopes. From the beginning of the story till the moment he dies, he held everyone together and never complained about rowing, unlike the correspondent.

The correspondent- a reporter and the central character of the story. He functions as the eyes and the voice of the story. During the fourteen hours trying to survive, he wonders 'why he is caught on the ocean, whether he is really meant to drown'. Although the correspondent understands that nature and fate do not act and think as man do, he curses them. He believes that there is a purpose to nature. At the beginning, his heart warms by the brotherhood that he and the other survivors create in the boat. At this point the correspondent takes pleasure in his pain by rowing in the rough sea because he believes that this pain is the reason that nature is trying to teach him but he dismisses ' the brotherhood' when his hopes for survival gets down.

7. Why does the scrap of verse about the soldier dying in Algiers(paragraph 179) suddenly come to mean so much to the correspondent?

When the correspondent was a child, he had heard the history about the soldier dying in Algiers. At that time he hadn't been attracted by it, 'making him perfectly indifferent' as the nature is about his current situation. He had never thought about that story, nor felt sorrow about the soldier but now, being in the same situation, the correspondent  finally understands the tragedy of the died soldier. He realizes what is like to be away from his home, in a big ocean, in the hand of the fate, of the mercy. The correspondents now understands what is to be a human against an indifferent nature. He realizes that he may have the same fate of the soldier, dying in an unknown place and may not return anymore at his land.

8. What theme in "The open boat" seems most important to you? Where is it stated?

The main theme is: The man's eternal struggle against the indifferent nature. This theme is stated in the part VII of the story, in the paragraph 203 when the men at the boat decide to try 'a run through the surf'. At this moment, the correspondent wonders reasoning about the indifference of the nature and the fragility of human beings.

10. How do you define heroism? Who is a hero in "The open boat" ?

The heroism is defined great bravery, a heroic courage when facing danger. For me the hero in "The open boat" is the oiler, Billy, because throughout the story he was the one who was realistic, the one who tried to held the members in the boat together, he never gave up, never losing sight of task at his hand, never arguing, only taking politely the command of the captain, rowing through the rough sea, never complaining about it unlike the correspondent. Billy was brave , courageous and in then end he dies. He fought throughout the story for others and himself to survive but the nature is indifferent from this.