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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why do the men row?

2. How do the men feel about the results gained from constructing the sail?

3. How do the men view their current situation in Part 2?

4. Who first spots a lighthouse?

5. What is the boat comparable to in size?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the correspondent do when the oiler takes his place at the oars in Part 6?

2. What do the oiler and correspondent take turns doing, and how?

3. What is the captain doing in Part 1?

4. What do the correspondent and cook argue about at the end of Part 1, and how is their dispute ended?

5. After the oiler takes the correspondent's place at the oars in Part 6, what does the captain tell the cook to do, and why?

6. What does the correspondent see when he wakes at the beginning of Part 7?

7. What happens after the sail is constructed, and how do the four men feel about it?

8. What does the shark do?

9. Who is the captain of the boat, and what is his crew comprised of?

10. What do the four men see near the end of Part 4?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How are the different symbols (the sea, the lighthouse, the boat, etc.) used throughout the story to represent abstract concepts? Detail and explain how the symbols are used to describe certain abstract concepts and which concepts they describe.

Essay Topic 2

Choose one of the main themes in this story (false hope, man versus nature, etc.) and detail its recurrences throughout the story. What does it add to the story? How does it affect the difference characters?

Essay Topic 3

How can Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat" be read as an antithesis to Darwinism?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 630 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample