Jonathan Nunez

Jones

DABDA Essay

4-9-06

Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’ five stages of death and dying is a form of interpretation

of the way a person deals with certain situations in life. Her stages are evident throughout

The Open Boat by Stephen Crane, where the characters go through these five stages when

they experience death. According to Kubler-Ross’ stages, which are denial, anger,

bargaining, depression, and acceptance, one can see that the characters in The Open Boat

are experiencing these stages.

An example of the first stage of death and dying, denial, can be found in the characters,

when they feel that their death is inevitable. Even though the men in the small dinghy

were completely aware that they did not have much of a chance to survive, they still

avoided the fact that this is actually happening to them. For example, when the captain

says "Oh, well, we'll get ashore all right," it shows that there is denial among the men that

they are going to die. The captain says this with such confidence that they will make it

regardless of the actual danger they are really faced with.

The next stage that the men deal with is anger, and they clearly show it when the finally

figure out that they may not make it ashore. The crew shows anger in either blatant or

non-blatant ways. For example, when the men saw the sea gulls flying around they

became angry because the birds were in the same area as them but unlike the crew, were

in no real danger. Their anger can be easily displayed in the portion of the story:

“The birds sat comfortably in groups, and they were envied by some in the

dinghy, for the wrath of the sea was no more to them than it was to a

covey of prairie chickens a thousand miles inland. Often they came very

close and stared at the men with black bead-like eyes. At these times they

were uncanny and sinister in their unblinking scrutiny, and the men hooted

angrily at them, telling them to be gone.”

The crew is shown here to be angry because they know it is not the birds’ fault that the

crew is in that situation but the crew still envies them just because the birds are not

affected by the “wrath” of the ocean. The crew would have not behaved in this manner if

they were not in the position they were at that particular moment. Also, the men insult the

birds with names such as “ugly brutes,” thus proving that they are angry that they may

die in the ocean.

The next stage of death and dying that is found in the story is bargaining, where the men

try to bargain in order not to have to die. Some usual forms of bargaining may include

promises to oneself that he/she will do better in life if given another chance for survival.

The correspondent in the story uses a perfect example of bargaining when he thinks to

himself the many things he would do if given another chance. This can be seen in his

stream of consciousness:

“It is, perhaps, plausible that a man in this situation, impressed with the

unconcern of the universe, should see the innumerable flaws of his life and

have them taste wickedly in his mind and wish for another chance. A

distinction between right and wrong seems absurdly clear to him, then, in

this new ignorance of the grave-edge, and he understands that if he were

given another opportunity he would mend his conduct and his words, and

be better and brighter during an introduction, or at a tea.”

According to what the correspondent is thinking one can see that he is aware of the

possibility of death and bargains by saying how he would “mend his conduct and his

words” or be “better and brighter.” This is a great example of bargaining in the story at its

best.

The next stage, depression, is one which can be described when the characters know their

fate, and that they cannot change it, therefore just mentally fall apart. This stage happens

when the crews has no possible means of survival and attempt anything to survive no

matter how small the odds may be. For example, when the crew knows they will not

survive, they jump off the boat and attempt to swim ashore. It is obvious that the

correspondent is depressed when he jumps off the boat because he compares the coldness

of the water with his feelings about his own situation. He uses words such as “tragic” and

sad, which are what someone feels when they are depressed. Depression clearly is what

the crew is feeling when the correspondent jumps off the dinghy:

“The coldness of the water was sad; it was tragic. This fact was somehow

mixed and confused with his opinion of his own situation that it seemed

almost a proper reason for tears. The water was cold.”

The last stage that one experiences in death and dying is acceptance or learning to deal

with the event. Acceptance can be seen when someone knows what is to come and no

longer avoids it, but instead embraces it. For example, when one thinks of drowning it is

usually a painful way of dying, but when the correspondent believes he is going to

drown, he considers it to be a relief, or a peaceful death. This can be seen when the

correspondent finally accepts the fact that he might die:

“In his struggle to reach the captain and the boat, he reflected that when

one gets properly wearied, drowning must really be a comfortable

arrangement, a cessation of hostilities accompanied by a large degree of

relief, and he was glad of it, for the main thing in his mind for some

moments had been horror of the temporary agony. He did not wish to be

hurt.”

It is unusual for someone to be “glad” that drowning is a “comfortable arrangement,”

because in reality it is not. The reason why the correspondent says this is because he

finally accepted that he will die and tries to convince himself that this type of death is not

so bad. He does this in order to soothe himself, and to not panic.

All in All, the five stages of death and dying by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross are ways to

interpret the feelings of people that may be going through the same situation that the crew

did in The Open Boat. The five stages of death and dying can be used in different settings

as well. Using these stages, one can explore different stories and be able to understand

what the characters are going through when they are faced with such events in their life

like having to deal with a death or experience death themselves.