The meaning of Stephen Crane's first line in his
naturalistic story, "The Open Boat" is existentially explicated by the final sentence of
his narrative:
When it came night, the white waves paced to and
fro in the moonlight, and the wind brought the sound of the great sea's voice to the men
on the shore, and they felt that they could then be
interpreters.
The men in the
open boat, like all men, cannot understand an inscrutable and indifferent universe
throughout their existential experience in the boat as they desperately try to reach
shore and survive their dangers at sea. Crane writes that none of the men "knew" at the
beginning; for, man is limited in his ability to understand nature. However, their
experience with the forces of nature teaches them something about the nature of
existence, and for this reason, they feel that they can be interpreters in, at least, a
limited way after they reach shore. They do know, at least, that it is not a meaningful
or righteous universe in which they exist.
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