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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. Who is present at the opening of the novel?

2. What would make the men see their situation as glorious?

3. What does the captain remind the other men?

4. What will the men need in order to reach the shore if the boat overturns?

5. Why are these four men on the tiny boat?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does the chance of survival seem optimistic at best?

2. What does the captain finally spot near the end of Part 2?

3. When the boat is deluged again, what does the captain tell the others to do, and why?

4. What do the men see as they row for their lives in Part 1?

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 do the four men wonder in Part 4, and what do they think that the people onshore may believe?

7. What does the shark do?

8. What is the correspondent doing in Part 1?

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

10. How does the captain try to calm the other three men?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How is foreshadowing used in "The Open Boat"? Choose one major instance of foreshadowing and follow it through the book, finishing with how the event is fulfilled.

Essay Topic 2

In what ways is "The Open Boat" autobiographical? What parallels are present between the book and Stephen Crane's life?

Essay Topic 3

How is perspective used in Crane's "The Open Boat"?

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