Interpretations of Race and Face in Stephen Cranes The Monster Stephen Cranes Novella - Research Paper Example

Section/# Interpretations of Race and Face in Stephen Crane’s The Monster Stephen Crane’s novella, The Monster, deals with a host of post-Civil War post-Reconstruction issues. However, rather than focusing in upon each and every one of these facets, this brief analysis will seek to utilize the primary source in conjunction with a secondary source to analyze the level of deviation that existed in Crane’s mind between where the law stood and what the intent of the natural rights of man, the nation’s civil rights, and the purpose behind the Civil War itself had hoped to effect. As a function of this, the author will elaborate on the secondary source entitled, “Face, Race, and Disfiguration in Stephen Crane’s The Monster”. In addition to analyzing this particular secondary source as a means of drawing inference on Crane’s novella, the author will also attempt to go beyond what is explicitly stated in either the primary or the secondary source and provide a level of analysis and discussion into aspects of metaphor that exist within the secondary source in question. Written by the same widely popular author that penned the classic, The Red Badge of Courage, this second novel was prompted much later in the career of Stephen Crane. Although many authors have attempted to seek to provide an explanation for why there was such a long period of time between his widely popular novel concerning the Civil War and the fight against slavery and the second novel which will herein be analyzed, one particular secondary source, L. Mitchell’s “Face, Race, and Disfiguration in Stephen Crane’s The Monster” states that the ultimate reason was the disillusionment that Crane was faced with when he considered, later in his life, the true nature of the “freedoms” that had been won as a result of the bitter and bloody Civil War which he had formerly written so effectively concerning. The understanding and pervasive feeling of regret and sadness with regards to why the rejection is so pervasive in an otherwise Christian society helps to integrate an ironic understanding of irrationality within the mind of the reader. As such, Crane’s novel itself briefly details the plight of a recently freed African American who sacrifices himself to save the life of a child inside a burning house. As a function of such a selfless sacrifice, the otherwise handsome individual was permanently scared and faced an even more uphill battle for acceptance within the society that already had expressed a great deal of reservation and grievance with regards to accepting him before the accident. Naturally, such an instance is highly metaphoric as it alludes to the differential both before and after slavery. Says the author, “Of course there were points of emphatic divergence. For instance, it was plain from Henrys talk that he was a very handsome negro, and he was known to be a light, a weight, and an eminence in the suburb of the town, where lived the larger number of the negroes, and obviously this glory was over Jimmies horizon; but he vaguely appreciated it and paid deference to Henry for it mainly because Henry appreciated it and deferred to himself” (Crane 5) The secondary source that has been engaged to draw a further inference on the primary source goes further and states that through the use of this metaphor, the reader is brought to a tacit understanding that the disfigurement that the individual experiences as a result of the fire is merely indicative of the disfigurement that the entire race of recently freed slaves experienced soon after the close of the Civil War. Rather than being rewarded as equal citizens of a reunified United States, the African American population was effectively placed into a new bondage; typified by poll taxes, Jim Crowe, and racial segregation throughout many of the former slave-holding territories. The secondary source draws a level of discussion into the ways in which the populace integrates with the newly freed slaves by using the metaphor of the fire to evoke a level of comparion to the viewpoints and societal norms of the post-Reconstruction era. Says Crane, “The crowd did not even feel the police pushing at them. They raised their eyes, shining now with awe, toward the high flames (Crane 14). In this way, the novel source draws a clear distinction between the fire and slavery, the scars on the face of the individual and the collective scars of disenfranchisement and rejection that the race as a whole invariably feels. Meanwhile, the crowd is identified as something of a child-like manifestation of ignorance a mixed with awe at how to interpret the events and the manifested reality they are faced with. Ultimately, the author of the secondary piece notes that the level of disillusionment, both within the African American population, and the author himself, was the motivating factor in seeking to describe the incomplete nature of the civil rights that these freed slaves had been promised. As a function of the horrible scar of slavery and of the Civil War, the societal stigma that repulsed people from wholesale accepting this group functioned in exactly the same way that the social stigma that the burned and disfigured face effected (Crane 15). As a means of understanding this particular frame of reference, the secondary source utilizes a thorough and critical analysis of key passages of the text which strongly utilize the literary techniques of metaphor to integrate a meaning with the reader. By focusing upon these sections which help to integrate a wider meaning that what is initially seen at face value, the secondary source is able to build a profoundly solid case for examining the work of Stephen Crane under the given paradigm. It should further be noted that long the very same lines that the secondary source argues, the issue of the Messiah figure that Dr. Trescott plays within the story. This figure is important for the reader to engage with and understand due to the fact that his selfless sacrifice is never appreciated nor rendered useful during the course of the novel. In this way, a type of further metaphor is being drawn with regards to the way in which the author of the novella, Stephen Crane, acts as somewhat of an ambassador for a very unwelcome and unapproachable truth. This juxtaposition of Crane’s own motives and intent for writing and publishing the story through the guise of further metaphor and parallelism is used a means of integrating an understanding with the reader that though the right decision has ultimately been engaged with, the reward and/or benefit for such a given course of action is almost invariably nonexistent. The inclusion of this Messianic figure is integral to the relation of the story in the fact that Crane would have a difficult time relating any type of moral within this story without the integration of a white sympathizer to the plight of the African American. In the understanding of this particular reviewer, this is mostly due to the fact that Crane realized that in order for any traction on the issue of equal and fair treatment to be effected within his own era or beyond it would be necessary to enlist the help, political power, money, and advocacy of a group of sympathetic whites to the cause (Mitchell 175). In this way, a type of foreshadowing is made within the novel with respect to the events that would eventually take root and result in the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. This dynamic of the importance that Dr. Trescott and those like him play with relation to the issue of the advancement of society is emblematic at many points throughout the novel. With regards to the way in which whites were oftentimes viewed that sought to aid the plight of the underprivileged and discriminated blacks within society, Crane uses the specific situation of a young girl being scared by the disfigured black man. Says the author, “For a moment the chief of the police looked reflectively at the floor. Then he spoke hesitatingly. "You know Jake Winters little girl was the one that he scared at the party. She is pretty sick, they say." ‘Is she? Why, they didnt call me. I always attend the Winter family.’ ‘No? Didnt they?’ asked the chief, slowly. ‘Well -- you know -- Winter is -- well, Winter has gone clean crazy over this business. He wanted -- he wanted to have you arrested.’ ‘Have me arrested? The idiot! What in the name of wonder could he have me arrested for?’ (Crane 26) The cold hard reality of the situation is the fact that those whites within society that did not wish to have any of the social fabric shuffled sought to undertake drastic measures, inclusive of Jim Crowe and others in order to ensure their unchallenged and elitist lifestyles were continually protected. As a function of this particular level of analysis that has been performed, the reader can see that the use of metaphor by Crane was something that allowed the reader not only to integrate with an otherwise heart-wrenching story, but to come away from it with an impression that it was their responsibility to ensure that such a miserable outcome was not repeated time and time again. Although it cannot be argued that Crane’s piece was so enigmatic that it requires a team of dedicated scholars to unravel the metaphor that is therein presented, it is well nuanced enough to require careful consideration as a means of understanding some of the themes and underlying motives that the author was attempting to get across. Due to the effective nature by which the secondary source has helped to shed a great deal of light on the means whereby the author integrates with the target audiences and expresses both overt and undertones of action that must be accomplished, the piece itself is a valuable contribution to literary understanding of the primary resource. Works Cited Crane, Stephen. The monster and other stories. Los Angeles, Calif: gypan Press, 2011. Print. Mitchell, L.C. "Face, Race, And Disfiguration In Stephen Cranes The Monster." Critical Inquiry 17.1 (1990): 174. Academic Search Complete. Web. 6 Mar. 2013. Read More