A Companion to the American Short Story
Page 33
front of the enemy lines. With Crane ’ s typical irony, the battle was unnecessary, for
a courier had been sent with orders for the squad to retreat, but he had been killed
before he could reach the house.
The best of the Spitzbergen tales, “ The Upturned Face, ” recounts the burial of a
soldier during combat. In terms of technique, “ The Upturned Face ” is practically
unlike any of his other war stories. A number of the basic elements of fi ction – in
particular plot, setting, visual imagery, and point of view – have been kept to a
minimum. The narrator is detached, and there is almost no action, no description of
where the characters are, or no clear sense of what time of day it is. Typically, Crane ’ s
stories rely on visual images to help convey mood, theme, and character; however,
here there are few: the dead man ’ s face, his clothing, and his few possessions. Instead
Crane focuses on aural and tactile imagery: the attempt to avoid touching the corpse
and the sound of dirt dropping on to it. The story is the best example of Crane ’ s late
prose style – characterized as “ lean, open, and sardonically understated ” by James B.
Colvert – which allows him to refi ne “ his essentially mythic sense of war so severely
that it seems all but absent except in the broad context of his characteristic feeling
for the ambiguous crossing of horror and humor in a dreamlike suspension of the
movement of time ” (Colvert “ Stephen Crane: Style as Invention ” 131).
“ The Upturned Face ” epitomizes Crane ’ s fi nal statement about the horror of war.
Lieutenant Lean and the adjutant struggle to maintain dignity and propriety during
a ceremonial burial of a comrade. They discover, however, that any attempt to assign
signifi cance to a ceremony – indeed, any ceremony – is meaningless in a chaotic uni-
verse. Nevertheless, humans need to adhere to a code of conduct, what George W.
Johnson calls Crane ’ s “ metaphor of decorum ” (Johnson 250). Though humans are
Stephen
Crane
147
trapped between “ an unknowable world and incongruous ceremonies, ” says Johnson,
they still believe in these ceremonies because this allows them to “ accept incongruities
which would otherwise overwhelm [their] imagination ” (251, 253). A code of conduct
maintains at least a semblance of order and civility. In his war fi ction, Crane has
moved from Henry Fleming ’ s self - absorbed, romanticized view of combat in The Red
Badge of Courage , through the larger social and historical concerns of war in Wounds
in the Rain , to the fi nal suspension of humanity between an unknowable universe and
incongruous rituals. In this sense, Crane is a precursor of what will become a dominant
theme in twentieth - century fi ction: the sense of isolation and alienation in an inhos-
pitable world.
Starting in summer 1897, Crane began writing stories about an imaginary town
named Whilomville. Crane used the archaic word whilom , meaning “ formerly, ” to
suggest stories about the past or “ once upon a time. ” Thirteen of the fi fteen stories
focus primarily on children and are based partly on Crane ’ s childhood in Port Jervis,
New York, where he lived from ages 6 to 11. With the exception of the novella “ The
Monster, ” the tone is often ironic, humorous, and idyllic, with occasional hints of
more serious issues dealing with race, religion, and social identity.
The children in Whilomville go to school, wander the countryside, pretend to be
cowboys or pirates, develop crushes, and get in trouble. They have a secure home life,
especially Jimmie Trescott, who appears in all but one of the stories and whose
parents can afford a cook and a servant. Despite a gently comic tone, the children ’ s
world has its own fears, confl icts, and meanness. As a group they are often uncivilized.
When Homer Phelps does not use the proper password during a game of war in “ The
Trial, Execution, and Burial of Homer Phelps, ” he is condemned to a mock trial and
execution, the price he must pay to be part of Willie Dalzel
’
s gang. Because he
chooses at fi rst not to “ play it the right way ” ( Prose and Poetry 1230), he is ostracized
from the group and is accepted back only after Jimmie Trescott shows him how to
play the game properly. Like Homer, Johnnie Hedge in “ The Fight ” is another out-
sider who, after moving to Whilomville, establishes his position in the gang by
fi ghting with, and defeating, Jimmie and Willie Dalzel. The sequel to this story,
“ The City Urchin and the Chaste Villagers, ” also deals with power and social rank.
In beating the gang leaders, Johnnie has upset the established order of the children ’ s
society so that “ the world was extremely anxious to know where to place the new -
comer ” (1249). Willie, however, fi ghts with Johnnie in order to reassert his authority
within the gang. The fi ghting ends only when Johnnie
’
s mother, the
“
supreme
power ” (1255), breaks it up.
Though adults function as fi gures of ultimate authority, they occasionally fi nd the
children ’ s behavior amusing. In “ Lynx - Hunting ” – which reintroduces Crane ’ s most
famous character, Henry Fleming from The Red Badge and “ The Veteran ” – Jimmie
Trescott and his friends hunt a lynx, even though they do not know what it looks
like, because it is “ their romance of the moment – whether it was of Indians, miners,
smugglers, soldiers, or outlaws ” ( Prose and Poetry 1169). When Jimmie accidentally
shoots a cow that he mistakes for a lynx, Henry and his farmhand “ laughed themselves
148
Paul Sorrentino
helpless ” (1173). Likewise, in “ The Carriage - Lamps ” Jimmie gets in trouble when he
secretly obtains a pistol and accidentally breaks lamps in the carriage house. Though
he is confi ned to his room as punishment, his friends concoct a highly imaginative,
romantic scheme to rescue him in which they portray such characters as “ the Red
Captain, ” “ Hold - up Harry, the Terror of the Sierras, ” and “ a prisoner in yon – in yond
– in that there fortress ” (1214, 1213, 1212). Like the adults in “ Lynx - Hunting, ”
Jimmie ’ s father fi nds the children ’ s behavior so amusing he forgets about any further
punishment.
The stories also capture the excitement and sometimes painful embarrassment of
puppy love. In “ The Lover and the Tell - Tale, ” Rose Goldege, the tell - tale, catches
Jimmie writing a love letter to Cora, who also appears in “ The Angel - Child ” and
“ The Stove, ” and promptly announces her discovery to the rest of the children. When
the “ yelping demoniac mob ” baits Jimmie “ like little blood - fanged wolves ” ( Prose and
Poetry 1186), a fi ght breaks out, and he is punished by having to stay after school. As
he returns to his seat, he sees “ gloating upon him the satanic black eyes of the little
Goldege girl ” (1188). In “ Showin ’ Off ” Jimmie becomes infatuated with another girl,
but his attempt to impress her runs into a problem when Horace Glenn, the protago-
nist of “ His New Mittens, ” comes by riding an early vers
ion of a bicycle called the
velocipede. When the two boys argue about who can ride faster, Horace challenges
Jimmie to ride into a ravine but then remembers that he never lets anyone else ride
his velocipede. When Horace gets taunted into accepting his own challenge, he acci-
dentally falls into the ravine, getting hurt and wrecking his bike. Neither boy ends
up showing off to anyone.
Other stories in the collection illustrate additional childhood anxieties. In “ Making
an Orator ” Jimmie Trescott dreads having to speak in front of his class and for two
weeks manages to pretend he is sick on each Friday, the day that students must recite
a memorized passage. By the third Friday, however, he is forced to attend school.
When it is his turn to declaim, he can deliver only a mangled version of Tennyson ’ s
“ The Charge of the Light Brigade. ” He is temporarily relieved when the teacher tells
him to sit down, with the expectation that he will be better prepared next Friday,
but the story ends with the likelihood that Jimmie ’ s anxiety about public speaking
will be longlasting. In “ Shame ” Jimmie is treated like a “ social leper ” by his peers
when he shows up at a picnic with sandwiches in a lunch pail: The boys “ were not
competent to care if he had brought his luncheon in a coal bin; but such is the
instinct of childish society that they all immediately moved away from him ” ( Prose
and Poetry 1200). And in “ A Little Pilgrim ” (also published as “ A Little Pilgrim-
age ” ), Jimmie learns about the hypocrisy of substituting the external trappings of
religion for its spiritual core. When the Presbyterian Sunday school he attends sud-
denly decides to use its money to help victims of a recent earthquake instead of
spending it on a Christmas tree, Jimmie is worried he may miss out on Christmas
festivities and switches to the Sunday school of the Big Progressive Church, only to
discover that this church, not to be outdone by the former, decides also to do without
a Christmas tree.
Stephen
Crane
149
Though Crane ’ s Whilomville Stories is not widely known, it captures realistically the
joys and traumas of growing up in rural America. Crane had no desire to write in a
popular earlier tradition of stories that romanticized children as angelic heroes and
heroines and moralized upon their behavior. Indeed, whether he was writing about
hometown children, the urban poor, Western cowboys, or individuals facing trau-
matic experiences at sea or on the battlefi eld, Crane was a groundbreaking writer of
short stories who strove “ to observe closely, … to set down what I have seen in the
simplest and most concise way[,] … . [and to be] very careful not to let any theories
or pet ideas of my own be seen in my writing. Preaching is fatal to art in literature.
I try to give to readers a slice out of life; and if there is any moral or lesson in it I do
not point it out. I let the reader fi nd it for himself ” ( Correspondence I. 230). This desire
to show “ readers a slice out of life ” exemplifi es the fragmented vision of reality that
J. Hillis Miller has identifi ed as a key characteristic of modern literature (Miller 3ff.). 9
It is easy to forget how much Crane accomplished so quickly. From the minor
fi ctional episodes about Sullivan County in 1892, to the masterful “ The Open Boat ”
in 1897, and fi nally to the immensely innovative “ The Clan of No - Name ” and “ War
Memories ” in 1899 – a passage of only seven years – Crane developed his craft more
quickly than any other American writer. Indeed, if one compares his work in general
to that of other nineteenth - century writers, the contrast is remarkable. Whereas Crane
had completed two pioneering novels, Maggie and The Red Badge , before he was 23,
Melville did not publish Moby - Dick until he was 32, Hawthorne was 46 when The
Scarlet Letter appeared, and Twain was 49 at the time that the Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn came out. Though it is mere speculation to guess what direction Crane ’ s work
might have taken had he not died at the age of 28, one could reasonably argue that
of all the American writers who died young, no one had more potential to become
one of the country ’ s great writers than Stephen Crane.
Notes
1
For a comprehensive treatment of the “ cylinder
American edition,
The Open Boat and Other
of vision ” in Crane ’ s work, see Holton , Cylinder
Tales of Adventure
(New York: Doubleday
&
of Vision
. For additional commentary on
McClure, 1898), in which the word Tales in
Crane ’
s short stories, see Wolford,
Stephen
the title has replaced Stories .
Crane , and Schaefer, A Reader ’ s Guide .
4 For a discussion of the literary implications of
2
The confl ict resulting from Crane ’ s “ double
Crane ’ s epistemology, see Dooley, The Plural-
literary life
”
is a major theme of
The Third
istic Philosophy , and Robertson, Stephen Crane .
Violet .
See
Sorrentino,
“ Stephen
Crane ’ s
5
This preference for brevity may also explain
Struggle. ”
the shortness of Crane
’
s poems. The average
3
The book publication of these pieces further
length is about ten lines.
complicated the issue. In the British edition
6
As James B. Colvert notes about “ The Mes-
of
The Open Boat and Other Stories (London:
meric Mountain ” in “ Stephen Crane ’ s Magic
Heinemann, 1898), nine of the New York City
Mountain, ” “ The relation of the fable to The
pieces were grouped under the title “ Midnight
Red Badge is obvious. It is at once a summary
Sketches. ”
They were excluded in the
of the plot of the novel and an expansion of the
150
Paul Sorrentino
metaphor by which Henry interprets his
(1901) contains eight articles on major battles;
victory. There are the familiar elements
–
however, Kate Lyon, Harold Frederic
’
s mis-
the terror and rage of the hero, the hallucina-
tress and a friend of the Cranes, did the research
tory imagery, the antagonism of Nature, the
and wrote most of the eight articles.
delusive victory, the heroics, the narrator
’
s 8
Conrad, Crane ’ s closest literary friend in
ironic commentary.
…
The meaning of the
England, wrote a sentimental reminiscence of
fable is amplifi
ed elsewhere in Crane
’ s
their relationship as the introduction to Beer ’ s
fi ction. The Swede in
‘
The Blue Hotel,
’
his
biograph
y. Though the introduction is an
mind swarming with terror at the threat of
important reminiscence, Beer fabricated letters
an unknown menace is, we discover, really
and incidents for what is now recognized as an
at war with himself and an angry Nature. …
unreliable biography. For the impact of Beer ’ s
And again we fi nd the symbols of the fable
book on Crane scholarship in the twentieth
in
‘
The Open Boat,
’
the story of the cor-
century, see Wertheim and Sorrentino,
respondent ’ s anguished speculation about the
“ Thomas Beer ” ; Clendenning, “ Thomas Beer ’ s
meaning of an ambivalent Nature
”
(Colvert
Stephen Crane ” ; and Sorrentino, “ The Legacy of
“ Stephen Crane ’ s Magic Mountain, ” 100 – 1,
Thomas Beer. ”
104).
9
I am indebted to Wolford ( Stephen Crane: A
7 Crane also wrote a number of war sketches and
Study of the Short Fiction xii) for making this
dispatches, and
Great Battles of the World
connection.
References and Further Reading
Cather , Willa . “ When I Knew Stephen Crane . ”
Dooley , Patrick K . The Pluralistic Philosophy of
Stephen Crane: A Collection of Critical Essays , ed.
Stephen Crane . Urbana : University of Illinois
Maurice
Bassan .
Englewood
Cliffs,
NJ :
Press , 1993 .
Prentice - Hall , 1967 . 12 – 17 .
Hemingway , Ernest . Death in the Afternoon . New
Clendenning , John . “ Thomas Beer ’ s Stephen Crane :
York : Scribner , 1932 .
The Eye of His Imagination . ” Prose Studies 14
— — — . A Farewell to Arms . New York : Scribner ,
( 1991 ): 61 – 80 .
1929 .
Colvert , James B . “ Stephen Crane ’ s Magic Moun-
— — — . Green Hills of Africa . New York : Scribner ,
tain . ” Stephen Crane: A Collection of Critical
1935 .
Essays . Ed. Maurice Bassan . Englewood Cliffs,
Hoffman , Daniel G . “ Stephen Crane ’ s First Story . ”
NJ : Prentice - Hall , 1967 . 95 – 105 .
Bulletin of the New York Public Library 64 ( 1960 ):
— — — . “ Stephen Crane: Style as Invention . ”