Stephen Crane: A Great Writer of American Naturalist Fiction and Non-Fiction, and of Local Color
Stephen Crane (1871-1900) was an American author of the late 19th century, whose work, in terms of style and sub-genre, was somewhere between American Romanticism and American Naturalism (with some American Realism added). Crane wrote at the end of a century (the 19th), a time when several literary styles and genres are typically blended together until a new century finds its voice (which became, in the first decades of the 20th century, at least from a broad perspective, American Modernism, of the sort expressed by Faulkner, Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Sherwood Anderson and others, with its emphasis on fragmented narratives, stream-of-consciousness writing, and other narrative-related experimentation). Stephen Crane, given his creativity and thirst for experimentation (he was an early American Naturalist when Romanticism remained in vogue) no doubt would have loved being alive to write at this…...

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Bibliography

Crane, Stephen. "The Open Boat." In The Harper American Literature, Vol. 2.

2nd Ed. ed. Donald Mc Quade and others. New York: Longman, 1993. 820-839.

"Stephen Crane." The Literature Network. (Accessed May 17, 2005); available from   Internet.http://www.online-literature.com/crane/.htm ;

"Stephen Crane 1871-1900." In The Harper American Literature, Vol. 2. 2nd Ed.

The Swede may have been a trouble maker, but he was right about his accusations. He had to grab the gambler at the saloon, because the gambler was already destined to act. They were all part of an 'act' in a play that was already rehearsed and going to be performed like it or not.
The other passage in the story that is very telling is:

One viewed the existence of man then as a marvel, and conceded a glamour of wonder to these lice which were caused to cling to a whirling, fire-smitten, ice-locked, disease-stricken, space-lost bulb.

Here, in one sentence is Crane's understanding of the world in which humans live. As the naturalist, he observed and wrote about the world around him from the Darwinian "survival of the fittest" perspective. He perceived the world and everything on it prescribed by these uncaring natural laws, which could be very harmful to…...

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References

Crane, Stephen. "The Blue Hotel." Norton Anthology of American Literature. Shorter Fourth Edition. New York: W.W. Norton, 1995. 1626-1645

Gibson, Donald, and Moore, Harry. Fiction of Stephen Crane. Urbana: Southern Illinois University, 1968

"The Open Boat" may have been based on Crane's real-life experience but it also functions as symbolic "of man's battle against the malevolent, indifferent, and unpredictable forces of nature…This reading is confirmed by the final irony of the death of the oiler, physically the strongest man on the scene and the one most favored to withstand the ordeal" (Rath & Shaw 97). The futility of resisting the power nature with human strength is illustrated by his death. "To some critics such a battle offers a growth experience: it either allows us existentially to know our place in the universe as we realize 'the absurdity of [our] experience' and of 'the human condition,' or it forces us to acknowledge the 'impossibility of man's knowledge'" of his fate (Rath & Shaw 97).

Crane's journalistic bent primarily reveals itself in what has been called an 'intense pressure to see,' as he fights to observe…...

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Works Cited

Crane, Stephen. The Blue Hotel. July 17, 2009.

 http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/CraBlue.html 

Crane, Stephen. Maggie: A Girl of the Streets. Kessinger Publishing, 2004.

Crane, Stephen. "The Open Boat." Scribner's Magazine 21 (May 1894): 728-740.

The proprietor, Scully, is unable to calm the Swede down, unsuccessfully, and the Swede makes an ominous prediction. "I know I won't get out of here alive," he says.
Scully attempts to lay the blame at his son Johnnie's feet, but the Swede will not be swayed. "I will leave this house. I will go away, because I do not wish to be killed. Yes, of course, I am crazy -- yes." The Swede goes upstairs to retrieve his luggage and the men pondered the situation. Johnnie insists, correctly, that the men didn't do anything to provoke the Swede. The Easterner supports the boy, saying, "I didn't see anything at all." Scully follows the Swede upstairs in an attempt to get him to stay, and succeeds. They share a drink and return downstairs. They sit by the stove, ate dinner together and, despite the Swede's increasingly bizarre behavior, end up…...

He knows that introducing his wife into this setting may be uncomfortable. Marriage seems to symbolize a settling down of the wildness in his nature. By marrying, Potter fears that he has "committed an extraordinary crime" (970). For fear of his two worlds colliding too suddenly, Potter rushes his bride off the train and to his home so that he can more subtly introduce this bit of civilization into Yellow Sky.
Unknown to Potter, the representation of Texas' past is on the loose at the same time in his town. Scratchy ilson as described by the bartender is "the last one of the old gang that used to hang out along the river here. He's a terror when he's drunk" (974). In stereotypical western fashion, ilson wears dark clothing and plays the part of the wild outlaw who randomly terrorizes the town and its inhabitants. Crane provides ample evidence to…...

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Works Cited

Crane, Stephen. "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky." The American Tradition in Literature Volume 2. Ed. Sculley Bradley. New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1967.

Long streamers of garments fluttered from fire-escapes. In all unhandy places there were buckets, brooms, rags and bottles. In the street infants played or fought with other infants or sat stupidly in the way of vehicles. Formidable women, with uncombed hair and disordered dress, gossiped while leaning on railings, or screamed in frantic quarrels. Withered persons, in curious postures of submission to something, sat smoking pipes in obscure corners. thousand odors of cooking food came forth to the street. The building quivered and creaked from the weight of humanity stamping about in its bowels.
Their working conditions seem equally filthy. Jimmie eventually finds work as a teamster, driving a team of horses through the dirty streets of New York. Maggie finds work as a seamstress in a sweatshop. They can literally find no respite from the physical filth permeating their lives.

Nor can they find respite from the violence that…...

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Alcohol use also permeates the story. Both Johnson parents are alcoholics and one sees the negative impact that alcohol abuse can have on people. However, alcohol seems to be the main focus of recreation in the Bowery. From Mr. Johnson to the kindly neighbor who offers Jimmie shelter in return for him purchasing beer for her, the lives there are consumed by the desire for drink. Pete, whom Maggie views as a hero, is a bartender. When Maggie is forced out of the family home, she and Pete are shown socializing in a series of progressively seedier bars.

If I had been an upper-class reformer of the time period, I do not think I would have tried to address all of the problems associated with lower-class life in the Bowery. They were simply too numerous to effectively tackle. Therefore, I think I would have concentrated on tackling the problems with alcoholism. In fact, this novel helped me understand why people favored Prohibition. The children in the neighborhood would never be able to stop their violence as long as they continued to witness it in their homes, and ending the violence in the homes would be impossible as long as people were chemically altered. Deeper problems, like sexism, would have permeated all levels of society, so that if I were an upper-class reformer of the time, I probably would not have had an objective perspective of those problems.

Stephen Crane, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1896), 9.

Thus, the town symbolizes the death of the Old West and the birth of a more civilized society.
Along with the symbols in the story, Crane uses a central them to tie the work together. One literary critic notes, "The central movement of 'The Blue Hotel' traces the development and eventual outcome of the Swede's isolation from other men, his retreat away from the world into a world of his own making" (Gibson 113). Another critic believes woven into this theme is the idea of alienation and solitude (Dooley 14). The town is a solitary sentinel on the prairie, and the Swede feels alienated from the other characters in the story, because he does not understand them and makes them into something they are not. The Swede is afraid, but he cannot confront his fear effectively. Instead, he isolates himself from men who have nothing against him, and turns them…...

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References

Crane, Stephen. "The Blue Hotel." University of Virginia. 1999. 30 April 2007.

Dooley, Patrick K. "The Humanism of Stephen Crane." The Humanist Jan.-Feb. 1996: 14+.

Gibson, Donald B. The Fiction of Stephen Crane. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1968.

In a fighting scene, we see how he is filled with an "intense hate" (111) and when he "was firing, when all those near him had ceased. He was so engrossed in his occupation that he was not aware of a lull" (111). After this incident, Henry throws himself down "like a man who had been thrashed" (111). Those around him saw him as "a war devil" (112).
Here we see how Henry has an animal instinct to fighting and it makes him look like a madman. Here we get an example of how we are aware of Henry's thoughts and feelings as well as what is going on around him. Crane also allows us to see the reactions of those around him to emphasize what it is that Henry is experiencing. By leaving the narrative to Henry's experiences alone, we are more apt to believe that it really happened…...

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Works Cited

Bierce, Ambrose. "An Occurrence at Owl Creek." The Norton Introduction to Literature. Bain, Carl, ed. New York W.W. Norton and Company. 1991.

Crane, Stephen. The Red Badge of Courage. New York: Aerie Books Ltd. 1986.

Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. An Introduction to Literature. Sylvan Barnet, ed. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. 1985. 1030-1114.

Sandburg, Carl. "Prairie Waters by Night." Bartleby Online. Site Accessed November 5, 2004.  http://www.bartleby.com/134/3.html

The arrival of Jake's wife and son some three years after him, rather than being a happy occasion, represents to Jake the diminishing of the exciting, new life he has tried to build for himself in New York. After the arrival of his wife, Jake "thought himself a martyr, an innocent exile from a world to which he belonged by right and he frequently felt the sobs of self-pity mounting to his throat" (Cahan 93-94). Like Maggie, Jake works in a sweatshop making clothes, and like Maggie, he uses his time working to day dream about other things. However, where Maggie thinks of Pete while he is working as a means of escape from the drudgery of her factory job, Jake actually enjoys his job, because it represents such a stark contrast to his life on a farm in Russia.

Thus, Jake's thoughts while working are not of escape from his…...

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Works Cited

Cahan, Ambraham. Yekl. New York: D. Appleton & Company, 1896.

Crane, Stephen. Maggie: A Girl of the Streets. New York: D. Appleton & Company, 1896.

Huntsperger, David. "Populist Crane: A Reconsideration of Melodrama in Maggie." Texas

Studies in Literature and Language 53.3 (2011): 294-319.

Settings: Dulce et Decorum Est and the Open Boat
The two pieces of literature chosen for comparison for this essay both reflect the insignificance of life and the arbitrary nature of the universe. Both works are set to reflect man's struggle to survive under extraordinary circumstances. Dulce Et Decorum Est by ilfred Owen is a poem set on the battle fields of the First orld ar. The Open Boat by Stephen Crane is set on a life boat on a raging sea. In Owen's poem it is society that is indifferent to the significance of a man's life, while in Crane's short story it is nature that is indifferent to the significance of a man's life. Both works take place in the early twentieth century. In each case men are thrown together because of circumstance and are faced with life and death situations.

Discussion

Owen's poem speaks of the horrific death men…...

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Works Cited

Crane, Stephen. "The Open Boat." The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. Eds R.V. Caccill and Richard Bausch. New York W.W. Norton & Company Inc., 2000, 176-194. Print.

Owen, Wilfred. "Dulce et Decorum Est." The War Poetry Website. Saxon Books, 1998, Web. 20 February 2013.

knew the color of the sky," is the opening line of Stephen Crane's short story "The Open Boat." Jack London's short story "To Build a Fire" also opens with a reference to the impenetrability of the "exceedingly cold and gray" skies. Nature is an integral part of the setting of any work of literature, and sometimes features prominently enough to become like a character with features that directly challenge the protagonist. Both "Open Boat" by Stephen Crane and "To Build a Fire" by Jack London are short stories that feature nature prominently enough to fuse the elements of setting and characterization as the protagonists struggle for their own survival. Nature in these short stories is depicted as being a dichotomous force. It is a neutral element, in that nature has no egotistical motives like those of human beings. Yet nature is a formidable force that can seem cruel because…...

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Works Cited

Crane, Stephen. "The Open Boat." Retrieved online:  http://public.wsu.edu/~campbelld/crane/open.htm 

London, Jack. "To Build a Fire." Retrieved online:  http://www.loudlit.org/audio/fire/pages/01_01_fire.htm

Twilight" by Louise Gluck and Stephen Crane's "Four Poems" on the Theme of Futility
The poem "Twilight" by Louise Gluck describes a specific moment in time of the subject's life, the only point during his day when he can experience any sense of freedom in his otherwise futile existence. This is highlighted in the first words of the poem "All day he works at his cousin's mill, / so when he gets home at night, he always sits at this one window, / sees one time of day, twilight." During the day he is a prisoner of his office and all he can observe of nature is the window showcasing "a squared-off landscape / representing the world." The word "representing" is significant, given that Gluck is suggesting by implication that the landscape in the window merely represents reality and is not reality itself, It is through this window that the…...

"Tiempos Amargos" (Bitter Times), with its ironic lamentation on the passage of time, criticizes life under the exploitive Mexican president Porfirio Diaz:
These are no longer the times of Porfirio (D'az), when they cried for the master when they'd meet him, they'd shake his hand, and button his pants.

If one day the steward became angry with a worker it was because there was another one closer to the snaps of his pants.

If someone had pretty daughters he'd get a job as a night watchman, or else he'd land a good job, at least as a payroll clerk.

If someone had a pretty wife they didn't let him rest, they'd get them up very early to work just like the oxen.

El Corrido de Gregorio Cortez" tells the tale of a Mexican outlaw who refuses to give up, even when he is cornered at the very end:

And in the county of Kiansis

They cornered…...

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Works Cited

Crane, Stephen. "The Open Boat." Scribner's Magazine 21 (May 1894): 728-740. Electronic

Text Center, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, VA. October 18, 2007  http://etext.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=CraOpen.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=all 

El Corrido de Gregorio Cortez." Artsedge. Kennedy Center. October 18, 2007 artsedge.kennedy-center.org/content/3742/3742_mexCor_cortezCor.pdf>

Tiempos Amargos." Artsedge. Kennedy Center. October 18, 2007

Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane details the life and experiences of Henry Fleming, who encounters great conflict between overcoming his fear of war and death and becoming a glorious fighter for his country in the battlefield. Published in the 19th century, Crane's novel evokes an idealist picture of nationalism, patriotism, and loyalty in America, especially in its war efforts. Fleming's character can be considered as the epitome of an individual who experiences internal conflict between following his heart or mind. Henry's mind tells him that he should give up fighting in the war because it only results to numerous deaths, wherein soldiers fighting for their country end up getting wounded, or worse, killed. However, eventually, as he was overcome with guilt over his cowardice and fear of death and war, Henry followed his mother's advice, following his heart. By being true to himself, he won and survived…...

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is perhaps the best example of Realism in literature because of how Twain presents it to us. Morality becomes something that Huck must be consider and think out as opposed to something forced down his throat. He knows the moral thing to do would be to report Jim, noting, " "People would call me a low down abolitionist and despise me for keeping mum -- but that don't make no difference. I ain't agoing to tell" (Twain 269). Furthermore, he cannot send Miss atson his letter he because his friendship with Jim trumps the morality he knows. Similarly, Jim wrestles with issues of good vs. bad. This is evident because of they way he decides to escape. He even begins to understand what Huck is going through when Huck does not turn him in. His revelation forces him to realize that Huck is "de bes'…...

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Works Cited

Crane, Stephen. Maggie, a Girl of the Streets. New York: Random House. 2001.

The Red Badge of Courage. New York: Aerie Books Ltd. 1986.

Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men and Cannery Row. New York: Penguin Books. 1986.

Clemens, Samuel. "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Lauter, Paul, ed. Lexington D.C. Heath and Company. 1990.

Realism in Civil War Literature

The Civil War, a tumultuous and pivotal event in American history, left an enduring imprint on the nation's literary landscape. Realist writers of the period, such as Ambrose Bierce, Stephen Crane, and Kate Chopin, sought to capture the complexities and hardships of the war era with unflinching honesty and gritty detail.

Unvarnished Depictions of War's Horrors

Realism in Civil War literature was characterized by its unflinching portrayal of war's horrors. In Ambrose Bierce's "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," the reader witnesses the grim fate of a Confederate soldier about to be hanged. Bierce vividly describes the man's....