The novelist Ray Bradbury once said, “I used to take my short stories to the girls' houses and read them to them. Can you imagine the reaction to reading a short story to a girl instead of petting her? » (“Ray Bradbury Quotes”). While speaking from a comedic perspective, Bradbury understands this: short stories are powerful. They have the power to create an alternate reality. Unfortunately, they are often underrated compared to the typical novel because they have less content, less quantity, or fewer details. But the length of a story only determines the quality of its message or the style of its language. The essence of a story, regardless of its length, is determined by the reader's response. To attract attention, the writer must include the essential elements of the narrative, such as setting, characters, and theme. Yet in Stephen Crane's short story, "The Open Boat," the reader understands these three elements from a frighteningly realistic perspective when given the facts that inform this historical fiction. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay First of all, the historical facts regarding the location and context of this story not only give context to its setting, but they also create an authentic and disturbing reality. . The reader must first understand that this story is based on a real incident in the life and career of Stephen Crane. As a war journalist, Crane traveled to different places around the world to report on events and incidents related to the war. In the specific case of this historical account and short story, Crane is supposed to travel to Cuba to report on an arms trafficking event against rebels in Cuba just before the start of the Spanish-American War in 1898 ("Reality and fiction "). However, he is diverted by a shipwreck. Considering the amount of context given in the short story itself, this information is invaluable. The narrator only hints at the actual physical context of the story when he discusses the state of the water. He says, "The January water was freezing, and he [the correspondent] immediately thought it was colder than he had expected to find off the coast of Florida" (356). After reading and going through such a long and short story, the reader can often overlook this simple detail. However, understanding this simple detail brings reality to this situation. First of all, this story is real. Florida is a real place that exists on the maps our children learn about in fifth grade. Florida is the real place from which Crane deliberately traveled to Cuba and unknowingly spent 30 hours on a canoe ("Fact and Fiction"). Deep sea swimming is serious business, and if poorly prepared, deep sea swimming is deadly business. In a newspaper article reporting the sinking of their ship, Crane said: "[Their ship's] commodore's whistle had been blown, and if ever there was a voice of despair and death, it was in the voice of this whistle. » (“Fact and fiction”, p. 43). Here Crane discusses an actual reality from the first person perspective. This reality therefore creates a new sense of urgency in the news. Urgency often leads to panic, and panic often ends in disaster. These historical facts only contribute to the reality of this situation: four men stuck in the middle of the ocean, fighting for life. These four characters, fighting for life and linked by a "subtle brotherhood", have real counterparts in the story, counterparts who also offer an element.