The Blue Hotel by Stephen Crane
I love how unsettling The Blue Hotel was. I didn’t care for any of the characters at all and wouldn’t like to meet any of them, but I was invested in what was happening to them. The Swede was the only man who behaved erratically and in ways you wouldn’t predict, even though he seemed so desperate to fit in. The rest of the characters all fit Western character archetypes of sketchy businessmen, aggressive cowboy, and useless intellectual. The Swede didn’t fit any expected role and caused tension between the men, because none of them were willing to break their own character and reach out to understand him.
Each scenario could have been deescalated so easily, but no one was willing to try. Johnnie cheated at the game and refuses to admit it. The cowboy is swayed by his own violent tendencies, and encourages the fighting. The Easterner knew he could diffuse the fight, but doesn’t say anything to discourage them. If they never fought, the Swede would never have left the hotel. When the Swede is murdered at the end of the story, the Easterner decides they’re all to blame for his death. I keep thinking about the ending, and what would have happened if the Swede wasn’t so paranoid. Would he have just eventually encountered more violence anyway?
Great Blue Heron (source linked)
I like when authors describe western landscapes because they’re usually so idealized, but I enjoyed Crane’s dismal description of Nebraska too. In particular, I liked how he compared the hotel to a blue heron, because they’re majestic but also ridiculous.
3 responses so far
I agree that I probably wouldn’t like to meet any of the characters, though before the Swede started his unsettling laughter, I actually was a little interested in him because he seemed like a shy and nervous guy, which initially drew my sympathy. Actually, though his behavior was unsettling and I wouldn’t want to be friends with him, I never hated the Swede reading or wanted to punch him; at most I was creeped out by him but I didn’t want him to die. Although, admittedly, I did kind of feel for the Easterner, too. I could sense his uneasiness and although he was withholding confirmation that Johnnie was cheating, he was being a voice of reason when he was essentially saying that fighting over a card game was dumb. I think the Easterner is a very relatable character, because unfortunately it’s very common to fail to do the right thing and fall victim to the bystander effect and diffusion of responsibility and things like that. It’s unfortunately very relatable to stay silent while bad things are happening because you’re afraid to speak up. And, hey, at least he feels sorry about it.
I might venture to suggest that the Swede is the only one whose behavior is obviously erratic. You note the cowboy’s aggressive and violent tendency, which I might argue could be considered a little erratic itself. Before they go outside to fight, the cowboy “turned in despair to Scully” and asked him what they were going to do. In other words, he behaves like one who wants to avoid a fight. And yet, after the Swede and Johnnie get physical, “a holocaust of warlike desire caught the cowboy” and he excitedly and passionately encourages Johnnie to -kill- the Swede. The difference is that the kind of bloodlust in the cowboy could be related to the Naturalist theme of men being animals at the core, making the Swede’s behavior perhaps more erratic in that sense. This also goes along with the Swede’s status as the foreigner, alienated from the rest and the outcast. So I guess I mostly agree with you after all!
I also agree with how many people have a role in not stopping the deescalation, but I’d like to mention a character you left out. Scully, the hotel owner, does a lot to escalate the situation. This begins with presumably getting the Swede drunk and then “his madness […] was encouraged by old Scully.” In other words, Scully is enabling and encouraging the Swede’s ‘excited’ and “too fresh” behavior. This most likely contributed to the Swede’s reaction to Johnnie’s cheating being so severe. Even more than that, though, is how Scully, “all eagerness”, told the Swede and Johnnie to fight. When the cowboy and Easterner are trying to stop the two from coming to blows originally, Scully sets up the fight outside. Scully had two significant opportunities to deescalate the situation — he could have tried to calm the Swede’s behavior down earlier (how successful he would have been is arguable) and he could have diffused the violent situation. By enabling the Swede’s excitement and the violence by setting up a fight, Scully has more than a fair share of responsibility. I think, barring the fact that it’s a story and Stephen Crane has messages he wants to convey, that the Swede could have avoided his violent end if Scully had managed to calm everything down, if it was real life. However, as a story written by Crane, it was more or less fated that the Swede was to be killed.
I went on a couple of digressions, but overall I agree with your assessment, although I guess I might say admittedly I was actually a bit more invested in and sympathetic to the characters.
(Also this was longer than I intended!)
I agree with you, I wouldn’t want to meet any of the characters. Their drama was interesting to read about but I can’t imagine being in their shoes. When you said “The Swede didn’t fit any expected role and caused tension between the men, because none of them were willing to break their own character and reach out to understand him”, I felt kind of bad for him because he’s just trying to chill. I also agree that a lot of the stuff that went downhill could’ve been prevented but no one put in the effort. I like the photo of the blue heron that you added, it’s a good visual comparison to the hotel!
I agree that none of these characters are particularly pleasant and “friend-able,” and the Swede’s unique demeanor during the entire story makes me feel nervous for him. I completely agree with you when you say the Swede doesn’t fit any specific type and his weirdness brought out the ugly in everyone. The Swede leaving the hotel and his eventual death could’ve been stopped if everyone dropped their attitudes and macho-manliness. I do feel some pity for the strange Swede, but his brazen behavior at the bar definitely pushed buttons he had no business pushing.