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Irony
Definition of Metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor can be stated explicitly, as... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other... read full definition
Part V
Explanation and Analysis—Babes of the Sea:
As the correspondent looks at his sleeping companions in the night, Crane uses a metaphor to show the men's vulnerability:
The correspondent looked over his shoulder at the captain. His face was hidden, and he seemed to be asleep. He looked at the babes of the sea. They certainly were asleep. So, being bereft of sympathy, he leaned a little way to one side and swore softly into the sea.
Crane compares the hardened men from the Commodore wreck to "babes" while they sleep. These are grown men who have suffered numerous tragedies and are not vulnerable by conventional standards. But still, in sleep, they appear as babies, associated with innocence, gentleness, and helplessness. They look harmless and tug at the reader's sympathy.
That these tough men are rendered as helpless as babes out on the sea shows the degree to which nature overpowers man. Compared with its unyielding and uncaring power, all men are rendered as helpless as infants.
Perhaps the correspondent looks away and swears into the sea because he can no longer handle the sight of these men, who look so innocent in sleep, suffering. The men in the boat have tender feelings for each other, a certain camaraderie from suffering a dire situation together. Their apparent innocence combined with this camaraderie elicits the reader's sympathy. The sense that these men don’t deserve their shipwreck and that there is some injustice in this situation affects both the correspondent and the reader.
However, the logic of the story reminds the reader that sometimes people, including seemingly innocent people, just suffer by chance. The sea does not care that they are helpless or vulnerable in sleep; it threatens them all the same. In the story, there is no divine judge that will recognize their innocence and grant them mercy. They are helpless and alone, which emphasizes how small humanity is in an indifferent universe.
Related Themes:
