Blue Hotel by Stephen Crane.

¶ … Blue Hotel by Stephen Crane. Specifically it will discuss what symbolic imagery and symbols Crane uses throughout the story. At first reading, the symbols are not that apparent in this disturbing short story. However, Crane does use subtle symbolism throughout the story that helps lead to the dramatic conclusion. One symbol is the hotel itself, a "blue" refuge in a flat, brown landscape. It helps underscore the theme of the story, that humankind is isolated from each other and do not take the time to understand or care about each other.

Crane introduces the Palace Hotel as if it were another character in the story. He writes, "The Palace Hotel, then, was always screaming and howling in a way that made the dazzling winter landscape of Nebraska seem only a gray swampish hush" (Crane). This symbolizes the hotel's importance to the story. It is the setting of most of the action of the story, and it is where the main characters interact with each other the most. In addition, the hotel is uncommon in that it is "blue," which symbolizes the "blue or sad atmosphere hanging over the town. In winter, snow can take on a bluish hue, and the entire town is engulfed in a snowstorm. Therefore, the entire town is "blue" or sad, just like the hotel. The hotel symbolizes the sad events that will happen in the town - the fight and the eventual murder of the Swede.

The town itself symbolizes the vanishing West that was being replaced with people like the Swede and the Easterner. Scully alludes to this when he tells the Swede they are no longer on the frontier, but will soon become civilized - a "metropolis." He says, "And,' said Scully, 'there's a new railroad goin' to be built down from Broken Arm to here. Not to mintion the four churches and the smashin' big brick school-house. Then there's the big factory, too. Why, in two years Romper'll be a met-tro-pol-is'" (Crane). The Swede has a preconceived notion of the West, thinking it will be violent and full of cowboys and Indians, when really, the West is evolving and becoming more civilized with every passing train. Thus, the town symbolizes the death of the Old West and the birth of a more civilized society.

Along with the symbols in the story, Crane uses a central them to tie the work together. One literary critic notes, "The central movement of 'The Blue Hotel' traces the development and eventual outcome of the Swede's isolation from other men, his retreat away from the world into a world of his own making" (Gibson 113). Another critic believes woven into this theme is the idea of alienation and solitude (Dooley 14). The town is a solitary sentinel on the prairie, and the Swede feels alienated from the other characters in the story, because he does not understand them and makes them into something they are not. The Swede is afraid, but he cannot confront his fear effectively. Instead, he isolates himself from men who have nothing against him, and turns them against him. This isolation is a condition of humanity according to Crane, and this story symbolizes how man is always alienated from humanity because of his own misdeeds and miscommunications.