Stephen Crane’s "The Open Boat” as Existential Nightmare Anonymous College

In his short story “The Open Boat” author Stephen Crane poses—and then proceeds to answer—a question of fundamental significance to the continued survival of the human species. The question that Crane’s story poses to the reader is one asking them to identify what attribute manifested by a foe or nemesis poses the greatest and most terrifying existential threat to man? This seems like a no-brainer: pure wickedly malevolent evil. That is not the answer which “The Open Boat” arrives at, however, and with good reason.

What, after all, is malevolence? It seems like it should be defined as an emotional state, but the reality is that what we tend to identify as pure evil is actually a conglomeration of various and assorted emotional states all working together to pursue an irrational objective. One need not have a reason to commit evil; in fact, logic is usually identified as an obstructive component to carrying out evil acts. Malevolence almost always carried an element of hatred, but this begins a run down a rabbit hole since what stimulates hatred can run the emotional gamut from fear to greed to love. Wickedness is at heart an irrational response to emotional stimuli and while that may seem like something you really and truly do...