After the MAGGIE novel, I read two short stories, "The Blue
Hotel" and "The Open Boat". The first is about three train
travelers lodging in a crummy hotel in Nebraska and the
second is about four guys trying to make land in a 10 foot
rowboat in rough seas.
All three of these works involved death. A common theme? I
don't see that. MAGGIE is a sad piece of irony, an unblinking
look at humans with no humanity. A hypocrititcal and cruel
set of social values com- bines with a world of limited
opportunity to destroy a person. I've seen this quite a bit
here recently. A FEAST OF SNAKES and APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA
fall into this category. Allowing for willing participation
by the individual, maybe a third of the books I've read over
the last few months would qualify.
"The Blue Hotel" tells about some crazy guy looking to get
himself killed. When he is obliged, Crane has a character
blaming a wide circle of people for the death with a very
weak and unconvincing argument, especially after the plight
of Maggie. I wasn't buying it, but it paralleled the very
fashionable and modern belief that everybody but the criminal
is guilty of his crimes.
"The Open Boat" has a Hemingway theme, with the four men in
the boat and how the faced a very dangerous situation, and
Hemingway's "grace under pressure" is definitely in the
foreground.
miker
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