Sin And Virtue: What Role Does Religion Play In Life Essay, Research Paper

It is not surprising for an author?s background and surroundings to

profoundly affect his writing. Having come from a Methodist lineage and

living at a time when the church was still an influential facet in people?s

daily lives, Stephen Crane was deeply instilled with religious dogmas.

However, fear of retribution soon turned to cynicism and criticism of his

idealistic parents? God, “the wrathful Jehovah of the Old Testament”,

as he was confronted with the harsh realities of war as a

journalistic correspondent. Making extensive use of religious metaphors and

allusions in The Blue Hotel (1898), Crane thus explores the interlaced

themes of the sin and virtue.

Ironically, although “he disbelieved it and hated it,” Crane simply “could

not free himself from” the religious background that haunted his entire

life. His father, a well-respected reverend in New Jersey,

advocated Bible reading and preached “the right way.” Similarly, his

mother, who “lived in and for religion,” was influential in Methodist

church affairs as a speaker and a journalist in her crusade against the

vices of her sinful times . This emotional frenzy of revival

Methodism had a strong impact on young Stephen. Nonetheless, he — falling

short of his parents? expectations on moral principles and spiritual

outlook — chose to reject and defy all those abstract religious notions

and sought to probe instead into life?s realities.

Moreover, Crane?s genius as “an observer of psychological and social

reality” was refined after witnessing battle sights during the

late 19th century. What he saw was a stark contrast of the peacefulness and

morality preached in church and this thus led him to religious

rebelliousness. As a prisoner to his surroundings, man (a soldier) is

physically, emotionally, and psychologically challenged by nature?s

indifference to humankind. For instance, in the story, “what traps the

Swede is his fixed idea of his environment,” but in the end, it is the

environment itself — comprised of the Blue Hotel, Sculley, Johnnie, Cowboy

Bill, the Easterner, and the saloon gambler — that traps him.

To further illustrate how religion permeated into Crane?s writing, many

scenes from The Blue Hotel can be cited. Similar to the biblical Three Wise

Men, three individuals out of the East came traveling to

Palace Hotel at Fort Romper. The issue explored is the search for identity

and the desire of an outsider (the Swede) to define himself through

conflict with a society. Referring then to the martyr-like Swede, who is

convinced that everyone is against him, the Easterner says “… he thinks

he?s right in the middle of hell”. On the contrary, the Blue

Hotel can be seen as a church, with its proprietor Patrick Scully who looks

“curiously like an old priest” and who vows that “a guest under my roof has

sacred privileges”. Personification of a wrathful God is

portrayed when the guests are escorted through the portals of a room that

“seemed to be merely a proper temple for an enormous stove…humming with

god-like violence”. Additionally, alluding to baptism, the

guests then formed part of a “series of small ceremonies” by washing

themselves in the basins of water. To further prove the

innocence of his building, Scully points out the pictures of his little

girl on the wall. All in all, in contrast to the safe haven of

the hotel, the reality is that “hell” turns out to be the red-lighted town

saloon where the Swede is eventually murdered.

Another recurring topic in Crane?s writing is the responsibility for a

man?s death. For not acting upon his knowledge of Johnnie?s sin (his lying

and cheating at the card game), the Easterner is portrayed as a betrayer,

with guilt eating him inside. At the beginning, no one at the hotel would

discuss fear or death with the Swede. Thus, in repentance on his part, the

Easterner comments, “Every sin is the result of a collaboration”.

Indeed, in the end, the conspiracy of silence between the 5 men

involved in the murder leads to a brutal result: The Swede “losses fear and

gains death”. A rhetorical question is left then for the

reader to reflect upon, posed innocently by the Cowboy, “Well, I didn?t do

anythin?, did I?”.

In conclusion, it can be seen that — through the exploration of

responsibility, guilt, betrayal, and repentance — Stephen Crane develops

the theme that man is alone in a hostile society and nature. The virtuous

religious dogmas cannot always explain and help make sense of the cruel

realities that each of us faces. Thus, it is only through trusting “the God

of [one?s] inner thoughts” that one can hope to cope with and

survive in this brutal world.