Free Sample Essay Example - Stephen Crane Short Story

This sample essay was written for a college freshman literary analysis class. This example English essay analyzes Stephen Crane's short story, The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky. The essay, which is a good reference for someone who wants to write a short story paper, uses a compare and contrast method to look at the two main characters. Using an argumentative style, the paper suggests that the hero and the villain are different from typical Wild West characters, and that the story as a whole is a different twist on a familiar tale.

Reinventing The West - Analyzing The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky

Men who lived on the American frontier were seen as tough gunslingers - rough skinned and independent. Alcohol and revolvers were their companions. But Stephen Crane's The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky turns this stereotype on its head by showing the world through the eyes of John Potter and Scratchy Wilson, contrasting these two characters and their motivations and finally using a suspenseful plot that mimics the typical Western tale right until the surprise ending.

Crane's omniscient narrator allows the reader to get into the heads of both John Potter and Scratchy Wilson, which gives the narrative a different flavor than the typical hero-centered Western story. In stereotypical Westerns, the focus of narration is the same as the focus character, meaning the reader would only see the world through the eyes of the hero - John Potter. In Crane's story though, the narrator is not limited to Potter's thoughts. By introducing Scratchy Wilson's perspective, the narrator adds suspense to the story - while Potter thinks about entering Yellow Sky inconspicuously, Wilson is "comfortably [fusillading] the windows of his most intimate friend," (Crane 318). On one hand, the reader sees a man who only wants to enjoy his honeymoon, while at the same time discovering a villain who would gladly love to confront his "ancient antagonist" (318). In addition, the narrator takes the reader into the Weary Gentlemen's saloon, where the men are boarded up in fear of Wilson's drunken aggression, desperately waiting for their savior, John Potter to arrive. Such different perspectives add suspense to the story - one wonders whether Potter is walking into a trap and if he will make it out alive.

The narrator reveals that John Potter and Scratchy Wilson are different from typical frontier characters. While Potter appears like a weathered frontier man on the outside - his face is "reddened from many days in the wind and sun" (311) - his thoughts illustrate a man fraught with guilt over not telling the citizens of Yellow Sky about his marriage. Potter is a round character with complex thoughts and emotions; he would rather be anonymous, "a man hidden in the dark," (313) instead of a "prominent person" (313) who would be mobbed by the citizens if they knew about his marriage. Because of his complex persona, Potter earns the reader's sympathy and respect - he appears human and vulnerable, instead of the typical, flat, western sheriffs who serve as symbols of truth and justice.

Potter's antagonist, Scratchy Wilson, also differs from stereotypical villains of the Wild West. Though he is the antagonist in The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky, he is not a devilish flat character intent on driving the sheriff out of town. While Wilson first comes across as a cantankerous drunk, the reader learns that he is usually "kind of simple," the "nicest guy in town," (316) according to the Weary Gentleman's bartender. The reader learns that Scratchy issues "cries of ferocious challenge" (317) because he sees gun fighting as a game - the narrator even mentions that Wilson "was playing with this town; it was a toy for him" (318). Wilson, like Potter, is a round character - more complex than just a drunken gunman. When Wilson confronts Potter at the end of the story, he is astonished that his enemy is now married. Seeing Potter's wife, Wilson becomes "a creature allowed a glimpse of another world," (319) a man now reduced to a "simple child" (319) when confronted with the reality that his playmate has grown up. This climactic confrontation at the end of the story makes the reader pity Wilson - a feeling not usually reserved for the villain in a Western story.

The reader is surprised by the story's ending because Crane's plot builds suspense as one anticipates a classic Old West shootout between Potter and Wilson. By starting with Potter's perspective, Crane lures the reader into a false sense of security. The worst thing that could happen, according to Potter, is facing the unsuspecting citizens of Yellow Sky. But when the reader learns that Scratchy Wilson and his dual revolvers stand in the way of Potter's marital bliss, he or she understands that a confrontation must occur and anticipates a fight. Crane builds suspense by waiting till the last half of the story to introduce the antagonist - the reader only hears of Wilson at first through the fearful residents at the Weary Gentleman saloon. The climax of the story brings the reader's anticipation to its zenith - when Wilson confronts Potter and demands that he will "settle with [him] my own way," (319) the reader expects the situation to turn ugly fast. But Crane abruptly solves the problem with Wilson's explanation and surprises the reader with a non-violent ending. The ending is effective because of Crane's plot organization - if Wilson had been introduced immediately, the reader might infer that the man was not dangerous and the story would lack the build up of suspense.

By transforming the typical Western story, Crane illustrates the twilight of the frontier era. Scratchy Wilson is the last of the gunslingers looking for a final moment of glory, while his opponent, Jack Potter is ready to settle down. The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky is symbolic of order descending upon the Wild West, taming outlaws and sheriffs alike.

Works Cited