РефератыИностранный языкReReligion Role Essay Research Paper It is

Religion Role Essay Research Paper It is

Religion Role Essay, Research Paper


It is not surprising for an author?s background and surroundings to profoundly


affect his writing. Having come from a Methodist lineage and living at a time


when the church was still an influential facet in people?s daily lives,


Stephen Crane was deeply instilled with religious dogmas. However, fear of


retribution soon turned to cynicism and criticism of his idealistic parents?


God, "the wrathful Jehovah of the Old Testament", as he was confronted


with the harsh realities of war as a journalistic correspondent. Making


extensive use of religious metaphors and allusions in The Blue Hotel (1898),


Crane thus explores the interlaced themes of the sin and virtue. Ironically,


although "he disbelieved it and hated it," Crane simply "could


not free himself from" the religious background that haunted his entire


life. His father, a well-respected reverend in New Jersey, advocated Bible


reading and preached "the right way." Similarly, his mother, who


"lived in and for religion," was influential in Methodist church


affairs as a speaker and a journalist in her crusade against the vices of her


sinful times . This emotional frenzy of revival Methodism had a strong impact on


young Stephen. Nonetheless, he — falling short of his parents? expectations


on moral principles and spiritual outlook — chose to reject and defy all those


abstract religious notions and sought to probe instead into life?s realities.


Moreover, Crane?s genius as "an observer of psychological and social


reality" was refined after witnessing battle sights during the late 19th


century. What he saw was a stark contrast of the peacefulness and morality


preached in church and this thus led him to religious rebelliousness. As a


prisoner to his surroundings, man (a soldier) is physically, emotionally, and


psychologically challenged by nature?s indifference to humankind. For


instance, in the story, "what traps the Swede is his fixed idea of his


environment," but in the end, it is the environment itself — comprised of


the Blue Hotel, Sculley, Johnnie, Cowboy Bill, the Easterner, and the saloon


gambler — that traps him. To further illustrate how religion permeated into


Crane?s writing, many scenes from The Blue Hotel can be cited. Similar to the


biblical Three Wise Men, three individuals out of the East came traveling to


Palace Hotel at Fort Romper. The issue explored is the search for identity and


the desire of an outsider (the Swede) to define himself through conflict with a


society. Referring then to the martyr-like Swede, who is convinced that everyone


is against him, the Easterner says "… he thinks he?s right in the


middle of hell". On the contrary, the Blue Hotel can be seen as a church,


with its proprietor Patrick Scully who looks "curiously like an old


priest" and who vows that "a guest under my roof has sacred


privileges". Personification of a wrathful God is portrayed when the guests


are escorted through the portals of a room that "seemed to be merely a


proper temple for an enormous stove…humming with god-like violence".


Additionally, alluding to baptism, the guests then formed part of a "series


of small ceremonies" by washing themselves in the basins of water. To


further prove the innocence of his building, Scully points out the pictures of


his little girl on the wall. All in all, in contrast to the safe haven of the


hotel, the reality is that "hell" turns out to be the red-lighted town


saloon where the Swede is eventually murdered. Another recurring topic in


Crane?s writing is the responsibility for a man?s death. For not acting upon


his knowledge of Johnnie?s sin (his lying and cheating at the card game), the


Easterner is portrayed as a betrayer, with guilt eating him inside. At the


beginning, no one at the hotel would discuss fear or death with the Swede. Thus,


in repentance on his part, the Easterner comments, "Every sin is the result


of a collaboration". Indeed, in the end, the conspiracy of silence between


the 5 men involved in the murder leads to a brutal result: The Swede


"losses fear and gains death". A rhetorical question is left then for


the reader to reflect upon, posed innocently by the Cowboy, "Well, I


didn?t do anythin?, did I?". In conclusion, it can be seen that –


through the exploration of responsibility, guilt, betrayal, and repentance –


Stephen Crane develops the theme that man is alone in a hostile society and


nature. The virtuous religious dogmas cannot always explain and help make sense


of the cruel realities that each of us faces. Thus, it is only through trusting


"the God of [one?s] inner thoughts" that one can hope to cope with


and survive in this brutal world.

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