Stephen Crane

Stephen Crane is a seventeenth century writer, who is well-known for his short story “The Red Badge of Courage”. Stephen Crane as with all authors was affected by his surroundings. Multiple elements that will determine exactly how an author’s works will be interpreted, these factors include: The time frame when the work was written, the age of the writer, the writer’s education, the environment the author was raised in, and the relationships that the writer was surrounded by while the work was written. This research paper will discuss selected works by Stephen Crane and how each was influenced by the era that they were written, the things that inspired him, and what the meaning is behind each story. The paper will also give a brief background summary which will help set the feelings, emotions, and the circumstance surrounding these selected works.

Born in Newark, New Jersey on November 1, 1871 Stephen Crane grew up in a well educated and very religious family (Vanouse). This environment helped Crane to become the appreciated writer that he is today. Crane’s father was a Methodist Clergymen and a writer, who wrote a number of books on such topics as: The dangers of alcohol, the dangers of popular amusement, and religion. Crane’s father died when he was eight years old, but this would not be the only death he would experience in his childhood (Vanouse). Crane’s older sister Agnes died when he was only twelve, and the following year his older brother Luther died while working on the Erie railroad. Both Agnes and Luther supported Stephen’s work in the arts and in literature. Crane’s mother, Mary Helen Peck Crane, who was also involved with literature, was an active writer in the Women’s Christian Temperance movement (Vanouse). At seventeen Crane attended a military school, by his own choice, because he had fallen in love with everything military (Stallman 9). Stephen Crane had a very good childhood and was encouraged by his family members to become great at what ever he decided to do. This was the setting that he needed to become one of the top writers of all times.

Although Crane excelled while he was in military school as a boy, he was not so interested in college life. In 1890 Crane attended Lafayette College in Pennsylvania (24). Crane stayed here for only one semester and was forced to leave because of excessive absentees. Even though Crane was at Lafayette for such a short amount of time, he still refers to his times and experiences there in many of his works. After leaving Lafayette, Crane moved on to Syracuse University, a school that was founded by his mother’s family (27). Though he had it good at Syracuse, Crane stayed for only one semester. Crane may not have taken much from the formal education offer by Syracuse University, but this time was critical in his career as this is where he began his first major story, “Maggie: A Girl of the Streets”. So overall, Crane took very little from his college experience; however, he began a story that would make him an acclaimed writer.

After College, Stephen Crane’s employment revolved around his interests and journeys. Crane not only wrote freelance stories, but he also wrote as a correspondent for magazines and newspapers during the American Spanish war in Cuba and the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 (Vanouse). Crane had the opposite experience from most writers of his day. Most writers would write stories and books based on events that had occurred earlier in their lives. Crane, on the other hand, would write a book or a story and then feel so inspired by it that he would go out and try to experience it for himself (Deblanco). This is most evident in Crane’s pursue to become a correspondent in several war, the American Spanish War in Cuba and the Greco-Turkish War 1897, only after writing his famed novel “The Red Badge of Courage.” This novel’s hidden emotion of war inspired him to become a correspondent, where he often times found himself located in the middle of fire fights and only then did he realize just how real the emotions and fear of war really were. His story “Maggie: A Girl of the Streets” was based upon the Syracuse “red-light” district, but Crane lived out his story while living with a woman who, if not was a prostitute herself, made a living off of the business side of prostitution (Delbanco). Crane was a very interesting individual and many scholars today still admire how he lived his life through literature.

Although never having gone to war Stephen Crane wrote “The Red Badge of Courage” which is a short novel about the psychological mentality of soldiers during the Civil War. Crane is known for his spontaneous writing skills, but this was not the case in “The Red badge of Courage” (Stallman 169). Crane studied and researched this novel because it was an aspect of life that he very much wanted to be part of. It initially was intended to be a short story for a newspaper, but as Crane continued to write he decided that he