STEPHEN CRANE'S SOCIAL OUTLOOK AS REVEALED IN HIS WRITINGS Thesis for tho Dogm of Ph. D. MICHIGAN STATE COLLEGE Andrew Wesfan Hart 1954' \\ ° 770 1&5 ‘3’. STSBHER CLnflE'S $SUIAL CLTLOGK A c ,- P , .0 .-~ ~n » - I -‘ ‘ . 1‘ ‘ :- I" T ’ ‘ ' ' T - ‘ ' it \’ pd: 1—.-Uu-u‘,p I“ [11.51 '11‘L1-L‘UL) BY AHDfEH WFSTWN HrFT A THESIS Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of michigan State College of Agriculture and Applied Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PEILOSOPHY Department of English 1954 This thesis attempts 15 :.I--:i min-.4: ".313 Stutizz- outlook of" \It'tnhen CI‘:=ne 1;;1‘313}; :m exsunLnLtior 0'2" hi.“ aritiI‘J-‘s. '3‘-.e I: I‘3<;"=‘t10n <'.,--.:‘1.2-I 63 t3? ts?! "£031ul Dutlook" snfi miscuasas 15? 1111 & in a,iau Cranc lived Qfld wrote, fifié it: influcwcw ugz: his wcrk. The npxt elvven 3901101? axxwina CI 16'; seems Id anorias in order to Una over 33 many facets as 93 HS;1Z le 0? hi; $03151 thOUjht. In the Canclgs:on, the 1n¢or"xrt 10:1 ‘HLs Cut 1n:n 15 f111%; florethcr 1n+o 5: COIfiE‘IId:.€i:§ 1W? C§}“A€4i. Crune's uaétry rave 15 an snfignthy tamard Ortxouox religion .--,I n. I- .!"I o A" \ n -.' "V\" . ‘, H '~ ‘.V .- ..‘ ,' - .. I: :1‘ A: ‘. (1...: it.) 123-232.. 1.1 JOG. It, II. n-S th-t, 1.. «I? 111711-911. conceivm 1.0.. to we \ an 1100? heir; whe :zrivas b cruel glezauxe froa coatemgl.tin; 1h? world ‘a. I ‘3- .. ‘ ' 4 .3 ~ ,q ’ ‘ A - u.‘-c ~ r . . - '. wuich he ore tau, out uOEu nfit 1P*or* :9 Kit I: it it uh; ta}. A n is ‘v '1 . I»-. 1": n K 1*: n (I " . v 9 -~ 7" 1: F o‘- 0'; . . CfihlflCtHJlfiOh 2: “1910111; 1r Iéitiohwl uh“ 9Vbl, gut c.32ule at times . l I l 1' " 1 ' " v V ’ t - J ' ’ K a I N . e ' "5 ‘ J. . . --- ‘- ' - ‘v- ~03 tour JQOhU nah 313T Lao Oftuh meeLIOLb of .novlu; thldtte trutu-- . .-.... : 4' . PI 1., . m. - .1 a _ . . s ”ere 14,411.”.0 of fu1211LJ0Y1. Ihc univerae 3 blCLuTML as fatally 54“ R ‘ I c ‘- g. ‘ v ' r- I ' .' I ’ ’ \ :‘ :3 ' ‘ " ‘ I ‘ "~' " 1 ‘ I" ' f: in 12:9.2 u to :11, ans wcdfl Lu lviyusl Iguanas COQDLNth? £901 ton . I II " Auv- 1 ‘ In (v "v' {Tuna -" 4L.)- Otlk” 3- 1'3", . a 0 l‘ " ' '--- “ r "1 I- . I ' .I 54“/‘ f. ;;e -s I e 02 pOL?,~9 Jexelom Sm?.: of fine Incas )rrunLtea v D- “, .. - - C A "-~ ‘t‘. n I'\ u‘ ‘ V - ' in Cr ne's pewtxy. In yuTthler, it EthaarS text “q.'s wCIlOPS are .1 n a . ~. A, . ‘ ' ‘5‘ u -_ ~ - . I A ‘ I . -‘\ '~. I. _- a.‘ 111.31, movivgtca u} the 9? L79 ta awvo r null 3e101u at era Tin to s . \ ~‘ ~.-. 1 ~~ by . -. 'Q‘: . I‘ f 1 -"~ ~. ‘ 2 I ‘ V- -v n ' ‘O-q I. ’ J a . ' : ~1in a SwCuIm 3031113“ 1141' *nv 3031.1 hvirnc :5. LTLLC 1n.1c.tes 'n .‘ g -. .~ 'Q ' ‘ .p—T --\ -1ocp lo tdlfifiuéfitq 13 ' :‘..-' 5 a ‘ »\D¢' .Kl ‘, -;.. 1.". A. ‘ a. : .-. I \‘ great uwnrnr. at Shah Lime” u«CJ iL-lv1thfl furlv llnn L to his com— 0 L: A y. {u 0 "J ‘3 b1 y-Jo fl ’. r1 .3. Q as U H P '3 .1. 4' v "I '1' On (J r 71 :h 0 C '1 f O ‘ ~ :‘I ‘y' '1‘ v-' . ‘ I"' ’3‘. ‘ ‘ .‘ "V‘- n ‘ ‘ 'n_. KhOfilQhfie of AL» can CJJHCLC1§S a.d 11mitdtzone, and to #5 t3 13111.I cooperative effort. The Sullivan Qggggz figgtcheg portray can as egotistical, ex- tremely romantic, cowardly, and only partially able to control h1- own destiny. They eleo reflect Crane'e disdain for euperetition. ‘lgggig nnd{§gg£ggi§;§2&ggz'toll of the failure of two indivi- duale who attempt to ettain statueihmthe social group. Maggie'e failure to cauecd by her ignorance of any life other then that of a clue deuller, while George's stone from the lack of suitable euye for his to prove himself. 'An‘Experihent' 1n Misery? and "The ”en in the Store“ criticize victims of social inJuetice for not fighting beck against eociety. The storiee indicate that such persons posseee the poeer to compel society to redress their grievances, but are unnblenx>cooperete with one another to the extent neceeeary to employ it succeeerQly. ”The Open Boat' and “A Hen end...Sone Othere' restate Crane'e belief in the efficacy of courage. They make the point that coopere- tlon and courageous behavior during e period of crisis enhance, but do not guarantee, any particular individual. chances of curviving 1t. 'Twelve O'Clock' end 'The.Blue Hotel“ illustrate the indif- ference of the universe end show how e eeriee of insignificant evente can lead to eerioue or even fatal final consequences. The letter story also shows how failure to understand the true nature or society can lend to isolation end death. r S c e T me have ee their thence the indifference of the univeree, een'e callous disregard of the sufferinge 111 and misfortunes of his fellows, vnfi the power of forces making for social conformity. One, "A Self-Made mun", satirizea the rags-to- riches American success sfo'v and indie tws that chance, rather than merit, determines an individual'e destiny. The Monster and The Whilomville Storiés deal with society's hostility toward and persecution of those persons who (iffer from the majority. both stories reveal that Crane regarned Negroes as lazy, easily frightoned, fond of loud garments and fancy language, but also caoable of behaving heroically at times. In The Whiloogille Stories Crane depicts children as possessing essentially the same traits as adults, hence makes the point that human trnits are hereditary, rather than acquired. Crune's social outlook, as stated in the Conclusion of this dissertation, is basically naturalistic. Its chief weakness is thot it placea too much emphasis upon man's fatha, nhile largely over- looking his very consiéershle virtues. 1v ~ F-‘(w 14'? -'-. *4: ‘V‘,-:.!'='.t huh“; "4.41 L “I“. i... ' " - -‘ W n -’ .~"-' »\.- . n A r - V ~ 3- ~v I mien to exoroos 45 winners tthns to Era. no&.el 4. N30, s ‘I . .. r. - ‘I ‘- - ' :‘ O t ‘4' A ll’ ," a in too prep rsticn o: tU;S misaertition. nCuLDVIGIjH or ‘- ‘ . n :"-, n a. “a 5': . "I‘ . ‘ I 0 —- 1 9 -_ --‘ ~‘ Q' , (-1.29 PI OfF’SVOz i -'1A.11."L.8 L) . 3.0”" I. (if? c.‘ 37" {44.1.41 “1 fir! $319551 SL- rolhtinfi to 8*"16. Finallv, I an inonotog {o my wife, Jane E. Hrrt, r it both for her Lacistnnce in twoiu: the :ove“al a Lftfi of tha diisern VITA Andrew Beaten Hart Candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosoony Final Exeminetiozi November 22', 1954 Dissertation: Steahen Crane's Social Outlook as Peveeled in his Writings, Outline of Studies: Major Subject: American Literature minor Subjects: English Literature Linguistics Biographical Items: Born, August 9, 1921, Midland, Michigan Uncergreduate studies, fiichigan State College 1946-1349 Graduate Studies, Xichigen State College, 1949—1954 Member, United States Army iediCel Corps, 1945-1345 Introduction..e......o....-..................ooo....- The Poetry...o..............o........o.........o..... The hed Bfldfe Of Courfige.....o.............o....o.oo The Sul ivar Count' SkOtChBSooooooooooooooooooooooo00 Eafifiieoooo0.000.000.0000.0000000000000000.00.00.00... "An Experiment in Misery" and "Th“ 38“ in the StormnOOOOOOOOOOOOOOQOIOOIOOOOOOII... George's mathnroooooo0.000000000000000000000000000000 "The Open Boat" and "A Han end—-Some Otheza"....o.o.. "Twelve O'CIOCK" and "The blue Hotnluooo-oooooooooooo Minor Stories with flocial Themes....................o 1&9 MOflStQT-ooooooovoooococoon.ooooooouooooocoooooooo WhilOflVille.Storleg...........o.o..o........o..o..... conclueionoooooooooooooonooooooooouooooooooo00.000... Bibliography...oooo.aoo................5............o "3 b 41 67 175 INTLOLUCTICN This study wttem.~ a to 'e+er:nine the social outlook of Steuben Crane through an exanination 0? his poenr an; stories. At the outset, however, it will be neceeSe'y to uefire the term ”social outlook" in orcer to gauge prooerl3 the -COpe of tee tssk. For the present purposes, it may be thought of as 9r" 3“:tc;;:i:, intcgiutud get of beliefs concern; in; man's relationship to the universe ezd to other men. Perh:1ps nun cun never know the exact nature of his relationship to the up; ‘: HTS ; honeve er, in any perioo of history, his Opinion eoout this relationship will play an important role in determining. the nature of society. I he believes in a benevolent universe, his concition will be essentially haogy. iis world may not oe LtOpisn, out generally Speaking, he till have 1" ith tnzzt things hemen for the best and humanity may be regarced us progressing from a lower to a mi both materially and spiritually. If men is convinced that the universe is indifferent, his View of life alters radically. He will then be frustrated rather than neapy. Ivents mill occ ur without env discernible pattern and the future, both of individuals and of the race as a whole, Will be impossible to prefiict. Finally, if men referee the universe as hostile, unhappiness and mental,'morel, and may ic'-lr etrogression, rather than uncertaint3, will prooeoly ch re erize human so fiety. nien's relationships to other men are of two kings: the overt relationships.ooteining in the everyday world, and the mental attitudes thzt he h's toward his fellots. The overt reletionsxigos are tnose Willch ' come most readily to mind whenever one thinks of a social outlook. let 2 any creed which concerneu tseL‘e excluzsirely vith than would oresent in 5.21 te picture of society. Wentsl s+titufies likevise play on important ro wi arternining tne nature of society, and must also he token nto account. f, for @Xfimflle, p Dole are rat a rticulerly con- cerned with hh't other: taint about then, the: ere more likely to he indiviouulistic, to do wg1t they please witdin reesonJEEe limits and let 0: 28 'o likevLIe. It, ho ever, they are not so ndividualistic, # r4. H H if they feel a strong desire for the approval of others, societr tend to exhibit a rigid, inflexible pattern and look with suspicion, fear and emnit3 upon anyon1e m}.=o is CL "erent. The indivifiual unier such conditions will rationalize any unorthoeox behavior of vhich he might he guilty, and within his own mind, justifi'it to society. m\ inc social outlook of the th nkin 3 portion of any society is in E). lnN e p 7t termin d ry the state ofi t: guolit icel, religious, and philosoPhicel inst tutions.l During those serious characterized by a high cegree of institutional stability, society tends t *isolsy an Optimistic outlook. then, ho.ever, tr:Cti on 1 values are UUHET e+f£1ck, a confused, pessimistic outlook is likely to re31lt. The time in which Crane wee ooxn certsir r belon_s in tlxe let1er category. In industry, in the physical and bi olo iotl scier1ces-evei n such unlikely fields as comparative philology-new inventions :nd eiscoverios were, vith unprecedented rapidity, a tering men's intellectual outlook profoundly and irrevocablx. 1The section on intellectual backgrounC1s isb escd on material in the following sources: Iod W. Horton and Heroert t. Idwards, Back- ;rounfls of American Literer1_Thogght, H.Y., Aoploton, Century ,Croits, 1952,pp.139-58,LJé-18, h48—505 Merle Curti, The Growth of Areric win Thought, N.Y.,Herpers, 1943, 99.531-GEL. This mrterisl h's been suople— mentec as indicated in the footnotes. 8 One or the teotore influencing the intellectul lake-up of the period who the emergence of the leohine Age. Up until the time or the Civil let, herioe'e em hed been primarily egrioulturel. To be lure, the notion.hed it! induetriee, lone of which dated tron the found- ing of the fiepdblie,‘but they were relatively unimportent. The Civil ler helped to ohenge the entire picture end to epeed the ooepletion of the Industrial Revolution. Not only who one of the chief foroee of Alerioen.agrarienilln-the South end ite plentetion qyetelnudeoieively defeeted on the field of bottle, but industry, et once ohellenged end etionleted by the neeeeeity of equipping an am of hundrede of thoneende, expended tummy. i’hie «pension continued etter the end of hostil- itiee. lithin e dosen yeere following ipponettoa, the value of Alerioen oepitel wee lore then doubled. Anerioe, through utilisation of the Beeeeoer proceee, one repidly ohenging from e netion.of wood to one of eteel. The eteel, meet packing, and petroleum induetriee developed eepeoiell: rapidly, but near]: every other type of enterpriee vee eleo “inflated. thin vest induetriel expeneion bed the effect of enoreoueky epeedina up the grovth of oitiee. Lured by the belief that the city offered better Jobe end lore opportunitiee for edvenoenent, e large tumor of fer- Ien and women ebendoned the lend. Iuigretion elee help- ed "on the when population. Driven fro- the Old lorld by feline, religioue‘pereeoution, end political and eociel upheevel, thoueende of Europeene eought e new life in America. lith each peeeing yeer the, Eutwm-irriving increaeed, until in 1874, 480,000 entered the country. Le e *reeultoi’ thin. rapid influ of pereone, citiee begun to have d difficulty providing adequate hcueing for thee. Bluee quickly epreng up in which vice, crioe, dieeaee, and corruption flouriahed. Concurrent with the growth of industrial enterpriee, America'e attitude toward eoneyneeking underwent a eubtle change. In earlier dove. Calvinieta regarded bueineee affaire aleoet an a eecond religion, believing that it'bueineee flouriehed, it night be taken ee a eign.of divine election. These early entrepreneure etreaeed honeety and lack of stood in their buoimee dealingl. do the rineteenth century advanced, however, thie creed eae trenaforeed into a phileeophy of cutthroat coupee tition and luet for power. In such e noral ateoephere the ehole Aeerican qyetel of value. underwent a draetio change. A new Horatio Alger indi- vidualiee, which emphasised the eateriel rowerde to be reaped through the exerciee of ouch virtuee ee honeety and induetrioueneea replaced the earlier Eeereonian individualism, which had etreeeed the development of the self. During thie period of rapid industrial growth, ecwentoue develop- eente were aloe occurring in Biblical echolerehip and in oeveral of the ecieneee. In MPG. cooperative philolcgiete and echolare educated the taste of the Bible to e rigoroue examination. Their work ehowed that the Bible, for fro: being the product of divine knowledge, woe eetuelly a ooepilation of a great variety of writinge, produced over a period of’lore than.one thoueend yeare. it the once tile, enthrOpolc- giete deeonetreted that acoounte of ouch evente ae floode, virgin birthe, and crucifixione were common in the religious writings of eeny groupe other than the Hebreww. Such discoveries appeared to refute decisively the clail that Christianity wee special and divinely inepired, and, co 8 a result, sang ;perscns case to look upon the Bible as a source of ethical guidance and wisdos, rather than as the direct sord of God.' In astroncey and physics, discoveries no less isportant free the standpoint of their religious ramifications sore also being node. By desenstrnting that star clusters and nebulae, instead of being stable entities, are constantly undergoing change, the astronomers Hernohel and Struhe refuted the Biblical claim to a fixed and final creation of the universe, and substituted in its place an evolutionary vicvpoint. Similarly, newly for-plated laws of the conservation of nutter and energy, ehich de- clared that both cotter and energy are indestructible and do not change except in accordance sith fixed lees, ran directly counter to the Christian- nysticsl‘belicf in the superiority of sind over setter. lhatever any have-been the effect of the Higher criticise, astronoey, or physics upon traditional religion, however, it was as nothing compared to that of'Darwiniso. Darwin's theory, first presented f in.his ingig of §pgcigl (1859), is‘briefly as followsc Organic-s tend to produce an excess of offspring, sons of which very slightly free their parents.. The process of natural selection tends to favor the survival of those individuals whose pecularitiea render then beat adapted to their environ-ant. Through the continued operation of these factors, new species not only have been had my still he produced, but organises of widely differing groups say have arisen frce common ancestors. By tumbling overwhelsing evidence against the idea of fixed species, Darwin destroyed one of the foundation stones of Christianity, the belief that God created can in His ismgo. If Darsin's theories were true, then man had, over sons of tile, developed fron sisple aninal origins, rather than 6 fallen from an elevated state, as the Bible held. Finally, the Biblical account of an all-wise Deity creating can by a single not proved untenp able in the light of the new evidence that overproduction, variation, despotition, and survival through adaptation, controlled his deveIOp- sent. The theory had tremendous repercussions upon the popular conscious- ness. It was as though, suddenly, God had died, leaving man with neither divine protection nor method of salvation. The nap of his universe had been torn to hits, the familiar bulwarhs of his security shattered. In a vorld of increasing coeplexity and confusion, can no longer had any Force to pray to, and his traditional morality, based upon precepts of humility and Justice, was of snail use in a world in which survival was accorded only to the strong and predatory. Even worse, is- eortality, through the hope of which man was encouraged to bear the misfortunes of this world, was snatched from his grasp....1t was small wonder then that many men-and parti- cularly literary non-abscess cynical and pessimistic under the shattering ispact of Darwinism.1 Considering the tenendous implications of Darwinism, it is not surprising that it had a profound effect in many areas of thought. The first adaptation of Darwinian to philosophy was the work of Herbert Spencer. Be distinguished three types of evolutionn-inorganic, organic, and sental-osnd attempted to show that the development of consciousness, human institutions and ethical values werb as such a part of evolution as the developeent of coupler organisms from sisplor ones. Spencer, though assusing the ultieate goal of the evolutionary process to be a Utopian husan society, displayed little patience with any attempt to aselierate husan conditions. He argued that such action tends to keep alive socially unfit types, which oust be elisinatad if nature is to advance, and that san can best prosote progress by standing back and t e' rsonal laws 0 nature wor- emae e i 1R.l.florton,snd H.I.Edwards,‘gp,git,, p.156. 1 John risks carried the philosophy of Spencer one step further in asserting that evolution.hnplied the existence of a God whose un- folding plan revealed His essential benevolence. In thus declaring the unfolding cos-cs to'be the expression or a‘benevolent deity, Fists. in a sense succeeded in.reconciling theology and Evolution,'but at the price of replacing the earlier, sore personal God with a far nobler but at the same time infinitely lore reacts Deity. . During the period in which Fists was carrying out his sort of integration, certain othsr'groups had seised upon the teachings of Berlin, as expsunded by Spencer, and were applying thee to sconoeios and politics. Pro-inent among these Social Darwiniats were indus- trialists, who saw in the doctrines of the struggle for existence and survival of the fittest not only Justification for the dog-eat-dog code of ethics which governethusiness enterprise but a strong argument against social and soonesie.refore. Similarly, politicians with a desire to see the United States sebarh on a program of imperialistis expansion could argue that dolsnetion.and exploitation.ct the weaker nations and races by the stronger use in keeping with the precepts of Darwinian. Social Darwinian had at least two glaring weaknesses. In the first place, the basic premise upon which it rested-othat heredity alone determined the individual's success or failure-was coepletsly unverified because no scientific techniques existed for seasuring accurately the relative ilportance of environment and heredity. Fur» - thereore the Social Darwinists failed to take into account the high degree of social cooperation prevailing in may animal societies, notably those of the ant and the bee, but including many higher ferns of life 0 cc well. The foot that ctruggle for curvivel tekee piece by end large between different epociee of enieele rather then‘beteeen individunle of the cane epeciee tende to deetrqy the nejor preniee of Social Darwinian. Social Chrictienity, in neeriy every reopect the coeplete entia theeie of Boeiel Dareinien, also exerted a considereble influence in the period under diecuuion. The noveaent no on outgrowth of the effort made 'hy certain early Uniteriene to conbet the evil! erieing from the umequel dietribution of eeelths Hotebie enonfi theee early refbrnerc were ‘Theodore Parker and liliien Ellen: Chenning, eho denounced the preveiling order of their tine no one in ehich fraud. oppreeeion, vietenl'bueineee ethioe, and contempt for the righte of othere conbined to iepoverieh the eohking men. I In the period of eiid epeculetion and indoctriei growth ehich followed the Civil War, the eituetion of the laborer eoreened etiii lore. folio-ins e wave of violent etrikee end other labor diltufibencee, neny ohurohee and religion! leader! euddeniy became aware of the greet die- perity‘beteeen the social ideele of Christianity and thoee or the new induetrdhl colcecue. the ettenpte which were node to eleliorete eociei conditione teen-ed two different three; the lore eeneereetive epprcech nought to improve the rotting oleeeee, while at the cane tin» reteining e oepitelietio economic organisation. The Christian Socialiete, on the other bend, felt that tore redioal means were needed to echo the problele of the new industrial society. .Central to the thinking of this group wee the doctrine that men'e politicel, eooiel, end industrial reletione ehould be honed upon the concept-oi the~Golden.Rule. An economic qyetee opereting upon e philonphy of dog~eet~dog, end 9 JustiiVing its exploitation of the masses of laborers by an appeal to the philosophy of Spencer, sas held to be cospletely contrary to God's order. In a system such as socialise, on the other hand, which advocated common ownership of the scans of production and distribution of the fruits of industry according to need, was seen an ideal means of bring- ing about the Mazda. of God on earth. ‘ Side by side with Christian Socialists another sovement flourished which, thth also dedicated to the bringing about of a Socialist“ State, see based upon scientific attitudes and methodology, rather then upon religious precepts. lei-rise Socialism may be said to have gotten its start with the pmlioetion, in 1848, of Why Karl Bar: and Friedrich Engels. This revolutionary paophlet bitterly indicted the capitalistic system as it existed, and outlined a future ehioh envisioned the oolplete owerthros of the existing sociel order and the abolition cthmen exploitation. “cording to Mar: and Engels, the preniling node of production controls completely the character of any period, even including its art, literature, and social. dustoss. Thus the handlill produces the feudal baron, end the spinning jenny the capitalist exploiter. However, each dominant class also carries the seeds of its con destruction in the form of e subservient group which, when the ties is ripe, overthross its casters end rules until it in turn is deposed. her: felt that capitalists had nearly run its course. The condition of the proletariat, es a result of exploitation by capital- ists, had reached a point where it could get no cores. The time was ripe for than to revolt, overthrow their Oppressors, and establish a socielistio economy. This larx urged them to do. Once the workers lo controlled the scans of production, exploitation would no longer exist, and the state, hitherto chiefly an instruent with which the dolinsnt group coerced others, would either away, the end result being a Utopian society. ‘ is a result of the altered relationship of can to son and can to society and God which was brought about by new discoveries and develop- sents in industry and the sciences, a change in viewpoint also occurred in the world of literature. The earlier idealistic concept of the indi- vidual as a free, sci-ally responsible agent saned, to be replaced eventually by the naturalistic outlook. saturalistis mum exhibited certain very acme character- ietics.1 Quite often they dealt with stbjects shich, in earlier periods were, by and large, taboo. The attitude displayed toward the subject setter was one of objective detach-ant, the author expressing no opinions concerning either characters or acts (except perhaps indirectly, through such devices as ireny er innuendo). Ian hisself was regarded as lacking dignity and stremth devoid of free will and ethical responsia- bility, and at the sercy of vest, indifferent forces which he could not begin to comprehend. The influence of naturals: upon French writers eas especially serked.‘ Balsao, as early as 1.842, declared that sen, like anisals, are solded and shaped by their enfironsent. In his W he esployed this thesis in painting a vast, colprehensivs picture of French society during thei‘irst half of the nineteenth century. Hubert also 3» 18cc Charles G.lalcutt, 'Iiarold Frederic and American Naturalin', “,11, 11-22(Iarch 1989) for an excellent discussion of natwelise and its distinguishing features. ”his discussion of French wr ters is based? thleen C ra HQYQ, “11,19259P930 W;’. 20W ' 11 adopted a scientific outlook, and in W attespted a ooapletsly objective novel free which his own personality and observations were rigidly excluded. It was in Zola, however, that the naturalistic eutlook reached its epitose. Strongly influenced both by the Darwinism and Isrx, be declared heredity to be the key to an understanding of life, and thought of the novel as a sort of laboratory in which the author studied the reactions of his characters in relation‘to their heredity and environment. “His great novel-cycle, W is an attenpt to protray, sosewhat after the fashion of Balsac‘s mm, the deoay of the bourgeoisie and the rise to power of the proletariat during the period of the Second Inspire. Zole's choice of a. decadent, Iiddle-olass fully as his subject and the unrelieved pessisiss which per-eated the series reflect his fire conviction that son is an anisel, enslaved by his tappe- tites. Russia, too, uttered new writers who were adherents to or in» fluenced by the new way of thinking.x Tm'genev declared his sin to be the dispasaionate portrayal of life and presented his characters, their relations and sections, without direct consent of psychological analysis, lettim his readers drew their own conclusions concerning then. He felt that to natui-e, merciless and aloof, the existence of ash is no sore ilportent than that of a flea, and portrayed husanity as inprisoned within a circle of fatality—driven thromh the universe by force and blind V chance, and possessing no free will. lThis discussion of Russian writers is based upon Iarc Bionic, The Epic of Russian Literature, N.Y.,0xford,1950,pp.860-5dd. 18 Although neither Dostoyevsky nor Tolstoy can preperly be labeled naturalistic, the sort of both writers exhibits characteris- tics typical cf that school. Thus Dostoyevsky frequently chose to erite about prostitutes, criminals, and other 'los' persons. a very early sort, W depicts its characters as helpless victins of their env ironsent, shile Ihe Gambia: sakes the point that everything- beauty, wealth, social standing-nu bestowed on can irrationally,» through chance, rather than rationally, through nerit and award. Similarly, Tolstoy's War 2’15 [gecg reflects a naturalistic dis- belief in the ability of the individual to shape or understand the significance of events as they ccctn-g Pierre Besuhov sees the Battle of Borodinc only as a series of disconnected and meaningless episodes, and the fighting itself develops a pattern alscst neatly opposite of that predicted by the Iilitary strategists. In decries, e soseshat sore optiaistic outlook on life and the prudi shness vhich Mitanig had fostered cosbinsd to prevent natural—- in fron gaining the reach acceptance it had found in Europe} I"! so, hosevsr, by 1803, the year in shich Stephen Grace's mam . appeared, a Inter of Americans had produced corks which reflected in varying degrees the naturalistic outlook. In his novel, W W (1808), 3.'.Hose ignored the heretofore stressed iwllie aspects of shall-teen life, concentrating instead upon its harshness, aridity, and narrcsness. Bisilarly, Hmld trederic's first novel, W(mm presents a deglascurised vies ef 1This discussion of naturaliss in America is based upon Robert Spiller at .1. WM. Mahatma. ”Jemima-xenon. 18 rural life, while his later work, Wham), treats sex in an unsentiaental and unconventional manner. hung the newr writers who drew upon the Civil Iar for natarial, two deserve special section. John I. Deforeet's WW WHOM), unlike its romantic contemporaries, de- picted the conflict as a blcocb struggle carried on anidst sud, filth, and sickness. Itdid not gloss over the fact that even the bravest soldier felt at titles the pangs of fear and anguish, nor did it shirk at describ- ing the horrors of the battlefield and the field hospital. The novel was further distinguished in that one of its chief characters, Ire. Larue, an adherent cf [alsac's philosophy, was the first profligete woman in harican fiction to escape retribution for her sisdeeds. depress Bierce'e collection of Civil lar stories, W WM“, asphasised the ispsot of war upon the individual; rather than the bread aspeets of conflict, and contrasted vividly the popular conception of war as a glorious adventure and the mliness and brutality which, in fact, characterise it. Of all the writers who preceded Crane, Harlin Garlaml was the lost capletely natm'alistie. lhile a youth tesoblm in Boston, he read Spencer, Darwin, and Henry George, and eebraced new of their ideas. These ideas were reflected in WM) and m MRS”), which graphically portrayed the grinness and hardship of pioneer life, a life which Garland had hisself experienced before as- «pin; to the last. lith the pmlication of W“), Garland becase the spokes-um for the new school of writers. Be declared that unpleasant as well as pleasant stbjects were proper saterials for 14 the writer, asked that fiction cake a clean break with tradition and imitation, and demanded that it attempt to discover the underlying weaning of truth as well as depict reality faithfully. By asking these views pmlic, Garland undoubtedly helped pave the way for such later, sore thorotghgoing naturalists as Frank Norris, Jack London, and Theodore Dreiser. microns critical comments upon Crane's writing bear evidence that his attitudes toward and belief concerning the functions of and relations among wan, deity, universe, and society were to a great extent shaped by the lilieu in which he lived and wrote. Hartwiok, for ex. «pic. «on Grace's fiction plainly reflects the naturalistic concept of son as a helpless aninal driven by instinct and imprisoned in a web of forces entirely deaf to the hopes and purposes of husnity. lowhere do we find this more clearly indicated than in "the Open Boat“, his story of fou- shipwrecked sen trying to beach their dingm upon a rocky strip of the Florida coast...1hg M 8933; 9f Courggg embodies the sale these. Its ttwling clouds of snake and gunfire blow Henry Fleeing, the youthful private, up and down the battlefield, first in blind panic and than in wild bravery, like some wild beast, divorced fro- intelligencc and free will..." see erased with fear, he runs away during a Confederate attach... In succeeding encounters with the enemy he proves hissslf a ass of saniacal valor, and reaches the conclusion that the chief thing is to resign hisan to his fate, to participate in Darwip's “survival of the fittcot'...in a word, to beccue a Stole. lies linifred lynshey consents upon the 'unreasonable' as well \ as the 'natm'alistio' elements in 12; Red Bag; 9; Comp, She sakes the point that Crane treated war as irrational and awhunan, that be regarded can, guns, and conflicts as akin to savage beasts. i Confed- erate charge is likened to an onslaught of dragons, and cruise are said 1‘fiarry' Hartwick, the a ,l.I., iserioan Beck Co.,lDbd,pp.l&—7. 15 to be at each other panther fashion. Thus, she says "every figure in the hook supports the atmosphere of unreason.” Henry, she states, forms his naturalistic code upon returning to his company after fleeing from combat. He decides to leave things to chance, and when he does he becomes a here. She concludes by saying that in Crane's world only a foolish nan scolds about the ways of a universe whose rewards and punishments fall by chance upon the just and the unjust.1 Gibson remarks upon the naturelistic elements in law: a, but also states that elements that were not strictly naturalistic began to make their appearance in.1he RedfiBadge of Courage. The Red Badge of Courngg centers on Henry Fleming's slcwky discarding I'the brass and bonbast of his earlier gospels,“ his preconceptions about the nature of war and the behavior of men at war. After intense misgivings and flight, he learns something of his weaknesses and his capabilities. He thus manages to come to terms with his small seguent of a world at war, and achieves a measure of neturity....The naturalisn of The Red Badhczgf_9ograge is thus qualified by Fleming's growth toward manhood and his return to the human condition of the lover. The ending of the novel, however, falls one degree short of complete verisinilitude, because the preceding episodes of greatest intensity have been too purely naturalistic! that is, they show men struggling to no effect in the grip of circumstances and instinct. - Crane‘s attitudes toward social institutions have also been the subject of much discussion. Victor Eloonin points out that Crane was a social nonconforniet even in his very early youth when he was writing the social news of the three towns of Asbury Park, Avonéby-the-Sea, and Ocean Grove, for his brother Townlqy, a reporter for the New Yer; Tribune. 1Iinifrcd Lynskey,"Crane'a Fed Badge of Courage." cat , VIII (Dec.,1949). Zlillian fl. Gibson,Ste hen Cran Selected rose and Poe , Role. Rlnehal‘t, 1950, Inte.u"XO is In eewerIl ertiolee, he poked fun et the bneineee eon, paintere, biology etudente, end other o‘er people who one to theee reeorte to reet or work. lloonin qutee eewerel ell-91.0.0! theee eetirioel diepetohee, of which the following one, cementing upon a group of einietore who were holding'e oonvention in Ooeen' Grove, can be teken ee typioel. The eoeberohned gentleeen who oongregete et thie plece in emer'ere erriwing in eoleen moeeeien, with bleek velieee in their hende and rebukee to frivolity in- their qee. They greet eeeh other with quilt enthueieee end 1-- ledietely eet about holding neetinge. . About Crene'e eerly newepeper writinge on Aebury Perk noonin eekee the following reurket The, reweel Crone no the sociel nonoonforniet tron the very beginning of hie writing career. In m be had commented eerdonioelly upon the preotioe of nieeione in administering to the eoule of iepetiont, unregenernte einnere who had 00. only for the eoup. He brought the em eatirioel bin to beer upon the people whose eotiwitiee he reported for the 39%. He had grown up in the pione climate of Aebury Perk, Ooeen rowe, end Port Jerwie, but he hed not found it agree- eble. He wee euepioioue of 'goed' worke and 'good' people. no we elweye in rebellion egeinet whet be regarded ee the mid. tyrenw of ooeplooent, intrenohed reepeotebility, end he ohoee to oonfront it with tmeheehed inpertinence. Ieere before Eloonin'e ertiole wae written othere had eleo celled et- tention to the eooiel nonconforeiee of Crone. Geri “thou-en eeid thet re:- hie [ox-mg] the orthodox, the respecteble, the eleeeioel did not exiet, or et ere rete hed no binding euthoritv. He inglned the world ee e ehip which eone god hed feehioned eeref‘ully end then hed heedleeely allowed to eeoape hie jurie- d1otion....1'he etete of unkind in ouch e world could not ween to Crane entirely glorioue. Ito orthodonee end reepeotebili- tiee were, h felt, only eo enoh cotton in which it liked to peek iteelf. 1mm:- A. Bloonin, gun, 275-289 (mam). d , em. Oerl Van Doren, “Stephen Orene', Mgr-g... -Iell-M(Jen..1924). e . . .. W 5 d .0. .1 -. ..~ -. . . ‘e e 1? Harvey Hiokhen, writing In few yea-r3 later, made essentially the cane conente ee Yen Daren. ' Crene'e defiance of e society ehich ie regulated quite other- wiee [then Juetlfl eeeee e elell effeir now. He did, indeed edviee hie old non with the white beerd to go and seek for juetice in e sore kindly lend, but noet of hie thmderbolte were hurled at a. God of etrew blueterim eorooe the eky, which feet hae caused, I think, hie reelly profound radicaliee to be overlooked. He did not believe that enug pretence wee of divine origin, end he had, beeidee, e eneeking fondneee for the widerdog ee euch. we, hie contemporetioe, did not know thie. 8o fer ee the writer on diecover, only one critic hee etteepted e detailed explenetion of the nentel prooeeeee by which erene'e charco- tere attempt to justify their reprehensible ectione to theeeelvee, end hence to eociety. Thie critic writeel There ie in non perpetual inward etruggle. Hie reaecn, hie conscience, can make no pact with hie feelinge, hie inetinote. Heture teaches e men to order hineelf from notivee of eel!- intereet; hie eorel eenee known the value of self-ebnegetion. The payohologiet in Crane wetchee with the detachment of the eoientict the interplay of the coge in man'e intricete Iota- phyeicel epparetuc. The Connor ie the happy oneibue tore ecderp psychology eppliee to that feculty, part norel, pert intellectual, which if can givee it on will rightly guide hie actione. Ion from the urge of their feelinge perpetuelly do the things that their Ceneor condom. he perpetuelly they try to Juetify theneelvee at the her of their reeeon. They cell upon their intellect to new for then some in- genioue eophietry that ehell eeke thee feel leee acute-pt- iblo in their lore]. eye. It ie in the pathetic ettempte of non to thue vindicate theeeelvee that Crene found e ready.- node genoeuvering ground whereon he could deploy hie ironic [me 18“va lickhee, 'Stephen Crone in College,‘ “:9, VII; 2“ (31.4926). etroniue lpplejoy‘, "Stephen Crone 1| love in 190,. W» 931.590.” (Ml-.1940)- Prom tfle ForchLng quotat’ons, it is clear thct the cr tics and writers u.oon Clsne hr ve shown some interest in the various aspects of his social outlook. However, onl; one article1 has been written which is devoted exclusively to a consideration of Crane s a social critic. This article will be discussed liter in connection with a egeci?ic cork by Cr re. So for as is known, Cr we himself never took the trouble to n ‘ drgw together the varLOus threads or his social thought into a uniiied, C): comprehensive creed. Over and bnove the socLal content of his storie ."9 PocmS, only a few scattered comments PTB found in his letters. At least one excerpt from these letters should be quoted because it throws lirht on his ttitudes toward orthodox religion. 'I used to like church and praye ' meetings when I v.5 a kid. Jut that cooled off and when I A95 thirtncn or cbout thct, my brothnr Will told me not to helicvc in Hell after my uncle had been borinj mo uncut the like of fire n;d the rest of the .1 aideshows....“ The comments mane by the various litcrcryc riti cs are interact- esnidto 6' ing and valuable, but to ken by themselves they can hardly constitute a social outlook. To begin with, they are based upon an examination of only a handful of Crcne's writings, hence any be swbjoct to modification in the IQ it of a more comprehensive study of his corks. Also, the conclusions, even if accurate, are sketchy and in need of develOpment. Finslly, a nunber of cahoots of Crane's thotht-ofor example his attitudes toward certain Specific groups of people and his views concerning the nature of truth—~have not been t! «cm into account at all. 1,..— ‘Ew sol B. Nye,"£5te)hcn Clone as Social Critic",floficrn Qu~rtcer, 48-54 (Sumner, 1940) ‘robert uWoos or Stallrru,.tc,her Lr'nozén Otrich,..£.,#n01l, 1952, p.692. 19 The major portion 0? this thesis is evotor to a systematic examination of Crane'c poeua and stories with a View *0 uncovering as many facets as possible of his social thoujht. '96 c, bad they first appeared in print. However, two, The Black iiders and The ‘-: a“ ”" ‘. fl ‘ ‘ 'G fi- '03 v ~.\ Q '0‘ -- I n ' .‘ -‘ '. n ‘ .1 ~‘- . - ‘ neoie o; c ureae, axe its" priczit, ore: c-1llc1 writings, and e numoer of minor stories, published between 1594 and 1898, are for convenience grouped together. The preferential tre=tmont accorded The black fiderg C1. The had Bed e of Courece may be reasonably juctified since, although p _J___. 1 v. A]. neither one published until 1695, both were written almost contemoore- neously with marge, ”The l..en in the Storm", and "An EXperiment in liisery", and were preceded only by The Sullivan Countx,bkctcnes. This arrcngomcnt hes the advantage that the writings meet important from the standpoint of Crone'e social outlook are studied first, and that his Bocery tales fall into 8 group by themaeIVes. fter the examination of Crenc's works has been completed, an attempt will be made to fit togelher the various pieces of interaction thus obtained into a comprehensive social creed. A brief evaluation of tni‘ outlook will complete the dissertation. 0‘ There are two reasons why any attempt to determine Crsne's social outlook must include an examination of his poetry, particularly the early work Ehe Black Riders (1895). In the first place poetry is, by its very nature, peculiarly fitted as a vehicle for the expression of ideas or concepts. Prose is diffuse-sn author may use anywhere from the half dozen pages of a short story to the several hundred of a novel to exoress a single concept. The poet, by concentrating his imagery and details so as to peck the maximum of meening in the minimum of words, can often achieve a similar result in a poem of comparatively few lines. hut over and shove poetry's Special ability to exoress complex ideas in a few words, there is a better reason for considering Crene's verse. Commenting on Thegfied Badge of Courage, Crane wrote the follow- ing in a letter to John Nathan Hillard. Personally, I like my little book of poems "The.Bleck Eiders“ better then I do The hed Badge of Courage. The reason is, I suppose, that the former is the more ambitious effort. In it I aim to give my ideas of life as a whole, so fer as I know it, and the letter is a mere episode, or rather an amplification.1 The importance which Crane attached to his poetry is further re- flected in the letter he wrote Copeland and Day, the company preorring to publish The Black Riders, when he lesrned it Was their intention to eliminste several poems from the forthcoming book.' he diaegree on a multitude of points. In the first place, I should absolutely refuse to heve my poems printed with- out many of those which you just es absolutely msrk “no". 1Robert Stellman, ed., Stephen Crane: An Omnibus, N.Y., Knapf, 1952, p. 675. This book contains all of Crene's published letters, hence I have used it for all references to his correspondence. 20 21 It seems to me that you cut ell the ethical sense out of he book. All the anarchy perhaps. It is the anarchy which I particularly insist upon....The ones which refer to God, I believe you condemn altogether. I am obliged to have them in when my book is printed.1 Besides showing the high regard in which Crane held his poetry, this letter is interesting because it infiicntos the themes in his poetry to which he attached special importance. It is impossible to tell from the letter alone whet type of anarchy Creme was dealing with or precisely whst his notions were regarding God, but it is evident that bo.h were unorthodox and likely to offend readers of the book. Crane won his point with the pUblishers, and his poetry was pub- lished intact. However, the reac+ ion in some (us rters w"; 3 what the publishers feared it would be. For 9: smole, the A antic Eonthly had the following to say: The soirit of the lines is generally rebellious and modern in the extretne, occasionally blesohemous to a degree which even cleverness will not reconcile to a liberal taste.... But it is too muchflto think that the writer always takes himself seriously.‘ I shall now examine in detail a number of Crnne's poems with a View to determining the social idees exoressed in them. The El ck Ri