Stephen Crane Research Paper

Crane Opens the Eyes of the Nation

In the late nineteenth century, a significant movement was taking place within the world of literature. At this time, many classic works of literary naturalism were shocking Americans. Stephen Crane is argued to be “the greatest of the naturalists, however, precisely because his works transcend their genre” (Canada). Through his works, Crane addressed many sensitive topics surrounding the time of his life. Due to the realities of the world that Crane experienced throughout his life, Crane depicted the themes within his works in a realistic fashion. Not only was Stephen Crane capable of affecting those who read his works during his lifetime, but he has also affected the literary world of latter generations. Crane was raised during the nineteenth century and he “was the youngest of fourteen children”. When Crane was a young boy, his father passed away: “[Crane’s] father, a strict Methodist minister, died in 1880, leaving his devout, strong mother to raise the children.” Stephen Crane’s mother, Mary H. P. Crane, moved her family to New Jersey after the death of Crane’s father. Around this time, Stephen Crane began his education at a Methodist boarding school. He attended the boarding school for two years, and,

In the year of 1897, during the Reconstruction Policy in Cuba, Spain, “Crane set sail for Cuba to report on the insurrection.” On his way to Cuba, “the ship on which he was traveling, the SS Commodore, sank.” It was this experience that spurred Stephen Crane to write “one of the world's great short stories, "The Open Boat."” This short story was Crane’s account of the day and a half that he spent adrift with three other men. Though Crane did not reach his ultimate destination of Cuba, Crane did not give up in his pursuit to depict the realities of war (Stephen Crane