Katja's Literature Journals

Katja
ENGL 48 B
Journal # 22, Crane
22 February, 2007


"and women with coffee pots and all the remedies sacred to their minds" (Stephen Crane 919, The Open Boat).

"It was instantly followed by an inrush of women. [...] Before they carried their prey off to the kitchen, there to be bathed and harangued with that mixture of sympathy and abuse which is a feat of their sex" (Stephen Crane 941, The Blue Hotel).

"When he reached home his sisters, his mother, his wife, sobbed for a long time at the sight of the flat sleeve." (Stephen Crane 949, An Episode of War).

These three quotes from three different Crane works illustrate Crane’s focus on all things male. These quotes are the only short mentions of women in either of the stories. Additionally, any reader will notice the sharp misogynistic tone of Crane’s words.

Neither story features any female figures until the very end. It would be too generous to call these figures characters, as they appear little more than shadows. One would have to assume that Crane considers women necessary evils, producing only insignificant contributions to the lives of men. Perhaps Crane’s long-time personal affiliation with working girls gave him licence to assume the only role of woman is one of servitude.

The brawny doings of Crane’s be-penised protagonists take up almost entirely all of his fiction, and is notably lacking the derogatory language or connotations Crane reserves for his mentions of women. Naturally, any feminist can see that Crane’s males are nothing but a bunch of card-carrying Yahoos, tooling around in search of the next endorphin release.

However, the lack of female influence serves a purpose. Look at what these men are able to accomplish on their own in a world devoid of women. They get shipwrecked, they get stabbed, they loose their arms for goodness’ sakes! In Crane’s work the human life form is reduced to its nuts and bolts—as it were—i.e. the males. There is little feeling or depth to these men until they come across almost insurmountable challenges, after which they get tut-tutted by their women. Perhaps Crane’s viewpoint is cynical and he is mirroring what he sees happening to women around him in his private life. This aside, I find little reason for him to castigate half of the human race.