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The Blue Hotel Analysis

The Blue Hotel relates to man’s illusions as well as vanities that are ludicrous yet, in an ironic manner, essential for subsistence. Stephen Crane’s realistic story provides a perspective of the globe as over and above understanding and apathetic towards the insignificant concerns of human beings. In accordance with the author, human beings are comparable to a louse holding onto “a whirling, fire-smitten, ice-locked, disease-stricken, space-lost bulb.”

In the book Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson pointed out that in a great tale, landscape as well as atmosphere ought to convey and represent the personas as well as actions (Stevenson 5). Stephen Crane adheres to Stevenson’s injunction, given that the graphics regarding the snowstorm along with the “screaming blue” hotel forecast the following stabbing and also brawl. Actually, as soon as the blue-legged heron “declares his position” next to its contextual, the Swede (referred to as a wild loony by Johnnie) consequently possesses a predetermined placement which is aggressive towards the setting (Crane 12).

The snow storm is a symbol of the rigorousness of nature, the dazzling fury of uncongenial surroundings that is able to snuff out the light, decreasing the surroundings to “a gray swampish hush.” Stephen points out that “the conceit of man was explained by the storm to be the very engine of life. One was a coxcomb not to die in it.” (Crane 15) The blue coloring regarding the motel can be described as testimony to the vanity of the proprietor. Scully pictures himself being a businessperson as well as host that is worthy of imitation. As an alternative to looking at the Blue Hotel as a peaceful place, the Swede is convinced that the hotel could be a frontier settlement pregnant with imminent hazards. In the long run, his illogical dreads turn out to be a self-fulfilling prediction. Therefore, an individual’s vanity may be a factor associated with life's engine as well as death (Crane 22).

In a number of ways, the 3 travelers are comparable to the three Wise Men from the Bible. Scully, who “appears oddly like a priest,” informs them that visitors are given “holy privileges.” He shows the Swede symbols (photos of his kids), offers them with (baptismal) water and provides him (sacramental) drink. Stephen furthermore talks about the cooktop as a platform that is humming “with godlike violence.” In due course, the deceived Swede flees from the safeness of the sanctuary and encounters his tribulation inside the hellish cantina.

Stephen's utilization of vibrant colors is among his symbols, and fictional criticizers have argued the interpretation of the heron-blue coat of the hotel along with the waving red illumination of the saloon. They certainly are different points of interest, beacons and advertising devices. The harmony, as well as wholesomeness associated with the blue, appear to be of an inappropriate or misapplied nature; that is its elegance (as well as Scully’s arrogance). The red light, making the snow have a blood red color, is a cautionary sign that the Swede overlooked. The significance of these representations continues to be mystical, in line with the philosophical agnosticism which extends all through Stephen's written and published scripts (Cox 23).

Work Cited

Cox, James Trammell. "Stephen Crane as Symbolic Naturalist: An Analysis of" The Blue Hotel"." Modern Fiction Studies 3.2 (1957): 147.

Crane, Stephen. The blue hotel. e-artnow, 2013.

Stevenson, Robert Louis. Treasure island. Race Point Publishing, 2015.