““Yes, married. I’m married,” said Potter, distinctly. “Married?” sad Scratchy. Seemingly for the first time, he saw the drooping, drowning woman at the other man’s side. […] “Well,” said Wilson at last, slowly, “I s’pose it’s all off now.” […] He picked up his starboard revolver, and, placing both weapons in their holsters, he went away.”
This extract from Stephen Crane’s short story “The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky” clarifies quiet well what one main theme of the story is about. It shows that the Bride, even at that time when women clearly had not as much rights as men, was able to stop a gunfight only with her attendance not as a woman but as a bride.
In this paper I will argue what changes take place in the short story by focusing on the position of the Bride. Is it possible that the Bride tamed not only the gunfight but moreover the wild West? Is the bride alone the determining factor for the change from the wild West to the more civilized East? The goal of this paper is to clarify those questions to illustrate the position of the Bride and to reveal more connected factors.
Firstly, it appears important to me to analyse the meaning of the names the author gave to his main characters. This seems an important first step for the further analysis of the text for it helps to
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The story takes place at the end of the nineteenth century. In the first part Jack Potter, the marshal of the Western Town Yellow Sky, is returning home from San Antonio with his unnamed bride. The second scene takes place at Yellow Sky’s local Bar where the town members and a stranger are discussing how to deal with Scratchy Wilson, drunk and looking for a gunfight. The fourth and also last scene shows how Potter and his wife are trying to sneak into town without being seen but face Scratchy Wilson. When Potter tells Wilson that he has no gun with him and that he has just married, Scratchy is surprised and withdraws the