After battling the tempestuous sea, four men in a boat finally spy land. But will the process of getting to the land be their undoing? Stephen Crane, today on The Classic Tales Podcast. Welcome to The Classic Tales Podcast. Thank you for listening. We are proudly supported by our listeners. Many, many thanks to our financial supporters who pitch in every month to keep us afloat. If you enjoy the show, please sign up to be a supporter for as little as $5 a month. We’ll give you a coupon code every month as a thank you. Go to http://classictalesaudiobooks.com and become a financial supporter today. And please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. Thank you so much! We had a great time in our Facebook Live event! Many thanks to all of you who came and visited. We’ll have to do it again soon. If you missed it, I’ll be posting the video up on our YouTube channel in a couple of days This week’s story is by Stephen Crane, and is often anthologized and taught in high schools. There are a few things that struck me when I researched this book: When the crew in the boat near land, the approach to safety (land) is the very thing that could kill them, if they are smashed on the rocks. It totally reminded me of our bout with COVID. As we get closer and think that’s okay, but then, no, no, no, that’s too dangerous, get back, get back. Hopefully we can all make it to safety soon. One of the main themes of this story is the ambivalence of nature, and how we tend to put our human spin on the nature of nature. The story kind of states that nature just doesn’t care about the plight of mankind. In the softer, contemplative moments of the book, it isn’t a gentle providence taking care of the men, and they don’t humbly surrender to it. It’s a harsh, ambivalent nature that could care less if the creatures living on it live or die. But in the end, humanity is humanity. It’s a fascinating look at how we take care of each other in times of crisis. And now, The Open Boat, by Stephen Crane. Tap here to go to www.classictalesaudiobooks.com and become a financial supporter! Tap here to go to our merchandise store! Tap here to visit our YouTube Channel: