STEPHEN CRANE (18711900)

Stephen Crane was a prolific journalist that wrote fiction basically drawing on the events he witnessed and reported for the newspapers. He often anticipated in his writings the circumstances in which he himself would later be involved. In a brief career ended by death at 28, he produced an extensive work. In only 8 extremely productive years, he brought out 2 volumes of poetry, 5 novels and over 300 short stories, sketches and articles. Many of his works reflect the various artistic trends of the end of the 19th century, especially naturalism, impressionism and symbolism. Furthermore, some critics have seen Crane as a forerunner of the 20th-century movements of expressionism and existentialism.

LIFE Crane was born in Newark (New Jersey), 14th son of a revivalist Methodist minister and a pious
mother who wrote for religious journals. Brought up in an austere home, he soon rebelled against the strict discipline; at school he enjoyed history and literature, but was academically not successful. His literary ambitions took him to N.Y. where he supported himself as a freelance newspaperman and completed his 1st novel, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (1893).

WORKS

1 of the earliest examples of literary determinism in American fiction (tries to show that environment is a tremendous thing in the world and frequently shapes lives). Its protagonist is an innocent and abused slum girl who is seduced, driven to prostitution and eventually commits suicide. After being rejected, the novel was printed under a pseudonym (because of his family), It was a commercial failure because the American public did not welcome this grim exponent of social realism that so authentically recreated sordid slum life. Compare realism in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by MARK TWAIN, Daisy Miller: a Study by HENRY JAMES and Dsires Baby by KATE CHOPIN, all published at the end of 19th C. Common elements: Portray of daily life of common people, perception of reality from different perspectives, ordinary people talk (idioms, dialect words), use of symbols, fiction written in a detached manner, objectivity of realistic writers, omniscient and not intrusive narrator

Poetry: His 1st book of poetry The Black Riders, (1895),

also had little popular success, it contained 68 short poems in free verse in which he expressed his bleak worldview and which foreshadowed innovative techniques that would be developed in the 20th century. The poems were too cryptic in content, too unconventional in form and too sombre in tone. His 2nd collection of poetry, War is Kind (1899), Its title is a bitterly satirical antiwar piece composed of 3 stanzas addressing successively a maiden, a child and a mother who have lost loved ones in battle, each stanza ending with the admonition: Do no weep, war is kind. Considered as a minor poet in the canon of American literature, where he stands mainly as a fiction writer.

Impressionism + Realism:
The Red Badge of Courage (1895) was well received in England, the novelist Joseph Conrad, praised the vivid impressionistic description of action on that woodland battlefield, and the style of the analysis of the emotions in the inward moral struggle of one individual, the Young Soldier of the book, in an effortless succession of graphic and coloured phrases. Such comment pointed out for the 1st time the impressionism considered characteristic of Cranes fiction, and also emphasized the main theme of the book, defined as a psychological portrayal of fear. It is a story concerned with the changing emotional states of a young soldier, Henry Fleming, who overcomes his fear and discovers courage. It parodies historical novels about the American Civil War (1861-5), and the conventional narrative forms previously used. He relied on eyewitness accounts in order to present battle scenes in a realistic mode, but transcended realism when he combined it with impressionism.

Cuban Revolution and the Commodore happening:

Crane was commissioned to cover the Cuban Revolution. In 1896 he sailed out aboard the Commodore, the steamer sank the Florid coast. He and other 3 men remained at sea in a dinghy until next morning. He 1st published a newspaper report and then, a short story based on it. This adventure also became the framework for one of his best and most often discussed pieces of fiction: The Open Boat

Posthumously work:
In February 1898, he heard the Maine had been blown up in Havana Harbour. He went to Cuba as a reporter. His reports were exciting, provocative and full or irony. He felt encouraged to transcribe reality with as few words as possible so as to evoke with swiftness and precision the picture he was aiming for. He used the materials he had gathered in Cuba to write 11 short stories posthumously collected in a volume entitled Wounds in the Rain (1900), where fact and fiction were skilfully combined to produce an integrated whole of mixed feeling about warfare. They were based on his experience of actual combat, also taught him about the multiple facets of a complex human activity he analysed from various perspectives, often with humour, sometimes satirically and always perceptively. He avoided both cheap sentimentalism and the idealized views of death in battle which pervaded the writings of many of his contemporaries. He didnt want to justify imperialist expeditions as noble missions on behalf of humanitarianism He was loyal to his own country, but also with the Spanish enemies and the Cuban allies and showed a kind of respect toward them, unlike his fellow American journalists. During the Spanish-American War, he suffered from fever and exhaustion, his health deteriorated and died soon afterwards.

The Open Boat, published in 1897

His main contribution to American literature is The Open Boat, when Crane wrote it, he had already published newspaper report of shipwrecks whose imagery clearly prefigures that of his famous short story. In them he had also articulated some of the themes developed in The Open Boat. It is impossible to determine how much is fact and how much is imagination; after the sinking of the steamer, Crane (correspondent), Edward Murphy (the captain), Charles Montgomery (steward) and William Higgins (oiler) certainly remained at sea for 27 hours, all night Higgins and Crane took turns rowing and just before they landed in the morning, the oiler was drowned in the surf; out of 19 survivors, they 3 were the last to be saved. Unlike the newspaper report, which is written in 1st person, The Open Boat is written from the 3rd person point of view, although the narrator concentrates on the correspondents consciousness and expresses a privileged knowledge of his thoughts and feelings. The other 3 characters reveal themselves through their words and actions. By facing common danger, the 4 men establish an unexpected community in which a new fraternal solidarity prevails.

Stylistic Features:
The 4 narrative modes are articulated throughout the story in Cranes shifts of diction: the syntax of the first is simple and its tone quite neutral whereas the second takes the discourse to an abstract level, resorts to irony with a mock-heroic tone; the 3rd tone is presented with the dialogue exchanged by the 4 characters who speak in a direct, informal, and colloquial language, in short sentences aimed at immediate and practical action. The main effects of tonal shifts convey the significance of intense moments. Poetic language is used throughout he story: use of simile that depicts the sea in terms of the land: waves that seemed thrust up in points like rocks(lines 5-6) , of personification in the sentence The third wave moved forward, huge, furious, implacable (line 67),use of metaphor this tower was a giant, standing with its back to the plight of the ants (lines13-14) linking the men in the boat to ants. Cranes detachment and coolness in reporting the tragic events in the report contrasts with that of the short story in which there is a great emotional power that stems from his visual prose. The author illustrates the concept of a multifaceted reality due to the subjectivity of human perception: In the wan light, the faces of the men must have been gray (line 53) and presents different perspectives and attitudes: the dialogue at the end of the first section depicts 3 different characters with different views and attitudes.

Themes:
Natures Indifference to Man: Crane makes clear that nature is ultimately indifferent to the
plight of man. The narrator highlights this development by changing the way he describes the sea. In reality, the sea does not change at all; only the mens perception of the sea changes. Crane strengthens the idea that nature is indifferent to man by showing that it is as randomly helpful as it is hurtful. Plowed to shore and saved by a freak wave, the correspondent must embrace the

fact that the very thing that has put him in harms way has saved him. This freak wave, however, may also be responsible for killing the much hardier oiler, a turn of events that demonstrates two ideas: nature is as much a harsh punisher as it is a benefactor, and nature does not act out of any motivation that can be understood in human terms.

Mans Insignificance in the Universe:

Throughout The Open Boat, the correspondent, whom the narrator says is cynical, is often cheerful and talkative in his descriptions of the physical pain he experiences. By the end of the story, however, the correspondents new awareness that the universe is unconcerned with the situations outcome makes him physically and spiritually weary. He decides that there is no higher purpose to surviving other than prolonging a life that is meaningless. His comment in section VII that the coldness of the water is simply sad underscores this despair. At this point, all sensations of pain and pleasure are merely physical.

Society as Meaning in a Harsh World:

When faced with the savage, stormy sea, the men in the dinghy immediately band together because they recognize that society is the best defense against the chaos of nature. The 4 men illustrate the theme of human weakness and isolation in nature, and the need for human solidarity in the face of natures indifference.

The deaths theme: It is treated as an existential affirmation of the absurdity of life being the
oiler the one in the crew to be prone to save himself due to his fitness.

Symbols:

The Boat The boat symbolizes human life bobbing along among the universes uncertainties.
The boat is in danger of capsizing, much as we as humans are frail in the context of the world around us. The fact that the boat is characterized as open supports this interpretation: the boat is unprotected and thus open to suffering the unexpected turns of fortune that are unavoidable in life. The boat also called ship, vessel and dingey.

The sea The way the sea is presented makes a symbol of destructiveness at the heart of nature.

Waves A ceaseless presence in the story and constant nuisance to the refugees, the ocean
waves suggest both the forces of nature and uncontrollability of life. The waves resemble the ever-changing demands of the present, the part of life that demands the most attention but allows for the least reflection. Just as the waves are constantly changing, becoming sometimes violent and sometimes favorable, the pressures in mans life will continue to jostle his progress toward whatever he seeks. Waves are also called rollers.

Symbolic actions and events: steering, taking the oars falling into the water, drowning and
escaping death from drowning.

Symbolism of social issues related to the theme of the hard work that means the human
struggle for survival in a hostile universe, this point illustrate the main tenets of naturalism.

Symbolism of color The intense verbal colorations which tried to capture the impression of
light at different moments of the day. Metaphorical use of colors may suggest emotional states.

The Oilers Death The lack of explanation surrounding it may symbolize the indifference of
nature toward man. Because he is less deserving because he has worked the hardest under the most physical strain, his death highlights the fact that nature is arbitrary in how it chooses its victims.

Drowning The narrator inserts a refrain into the text three times that suggests that the mens
general fear of death is exacerbated by the unconcern of nature. The thrice-repeated phrase If I am going to be drowned in the refrain alludes to the New Testament scene in which Peter denies Jesus three times. In the Bible, man denies God, but Crane inverts the scene so that it is God denying man.

Symbolism of the tall win- tower as the representation of the unconcern of the universe:
This tower was a giant, standing with its back at the plight of ants (lines14-17), She did not seem cruel to him then, nor beneficent, nor treacherous, nor wise. But she was indifferent, flatly indifferent (lines16-17).

GENRE:
symbolism.

This piece of fiction illustrates literary impressionism, realism, naturalism and

Naturalism The naturalistic theme is shown trough the passages that best illustrate natures
indifference to the fate of humanity. Crane thought in a universe of natural forces unconcerned with the affairs of humankind in contrast with the world of divine providence presented by Bradford in his account of the sea voyage of the Pilgrims to the New World. Crane is not concerned with moral assumptions and depicts a universe from which God has withdrawn: The lonely and indifferent shore (lines 34-35) is a clear reference to the main naturalistic theme.

Realism predominates in The Open Boat, its features include the use of an omniscient but not
intrusive narrator who provides an amount of factually grounded detail, the employment of multiple perspectives, the presentation of plausible physical experiences and the account of credible events, it deals with the lives of common people.

Jean-Francois Millet, "The Gleaners," 1857

Impressionism Cranes impressionistic technique in The Open Boat is ideal for placing his
readers into the same frame of reference as his characters, an example is the storys first sentence, No one knew the color of the sky, thrusts the reader into the position of his characters, who have a limited perspective of the world. Crane enriches his impressionistic technique by juxtaposing close-up, sensory descriptions of the mens experience in the dinghy with the narrators detached perspective. The narrator says that the mountainous gray waters obstruct the mens view of everything outside the boat, but in the next sentence the narrator comments on how the whole scene would have been picturesque if viewed from afar. Impressionistic has been used to describe Cranes vivid renderings of moments of visual beauty. This quote illustrates literary impressionism. When the correspondent again opened his eyes, the sea and the sky were each of the grey hue of the dawning. Later, carmine and gold was painted upon the waters (lines 1-3 chapter VII)

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The impressionist style of painting is characterized chiefly by concentration on the general impression produced by a scene or object and the use of unmixed primary colors and small strokes to simulate actual reflected light. C. Monet, Impresin atardecer, 1872

Existentialism In The Open Boat, Crane conveys an existential view of humanity: that is, he
depicts a human situation in which the individual is insignificant in the universe. Cranes use of the word absurd in the narrators refrain challenging fateThe whole affair is absurdresonates well with the existentialist creed that the universe itself is absurd and that there is no meaning in the natural order of things.

Comparing and contrasting use of symbolism with other authors: Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe and Stephen Crane. Notes from (exmenes comentados):
In Nathaniel Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown: Goodman Brown himself, Faiths ribbons, the wood / forest, the serpent-shaped staff, the black cloud, the fire on the altar-like rock. In Edgar Allan Poes The Masque of the Red Death: the apartments (their disposition and chromatic variety), the revel (the music and dance), the masked figure, the clock and its chimes. In Stephen Cranes The Open Boat: the boat, the sea and its various colors, the waves, the tower, the sky. Young Goodman Brown and The Masque of the Red Death can be read as allegories, they are characterized by the correspondence between the literal and the allegorical plains VS The Open Boat in which readers are free to interpret symbols, without the constraints of allegorical parallelism

Romanticism prized allegory as a valid device to explore moral and profound issues: the stories by Hawthorne and Poe are good examples VS Naturalism Crane being the best representative in America: He presents narrative matter more objectively, rather than manipulating it into a symbolic pattern.