Stephen Crane’s “The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky” is a formula fiction short story that initially seems to be an average taming of the Wild West story; however, Crane uses the journey home of a newly wedded couple and their welcoming to reveal the final evolutionary steps of a once barbaric town into a more civilized one. To clearly distinguish between the structure and refinement of the East and the chaotic ways of the transitioning western town, Yellow Sky, the story is told from multiple points of view. The author uses the attire of the unnamed wife of protagonist, Jack Potter and the antagonist, Scratchy Wilson to show that the once rugged western town has become more refined. In addition, the rough behavior of Wilson shows that Yellow Sky
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Crane also uses marriage as well to symbolize broadly the missing structural components of Yellow Sky’s civilized culture. Even though Potter feels that his marriage is scandalous is insecure as to how the townspeople of Yellow Sky will react to his “he knew full well that his marriage was an important thing to his town” (200). Throughout time and across all cultures, marriage was typically been associated as being a means of instilling structure into a person’s life. Crane acknowledges this reality when he describes the Eastern way of living and the place that the institution of marriage holds in it. The final acceptance of Yellow Sky’s newfound order is personified by Marshal Potter refusal to fight Wilson because he was a newly married man. As a result, Wilson calls off the shootout and reveals himself to be a man who cannot fit into a more refined society. Crane points out that, “[Wilson] was not a student of chivalry; it was merely that in the presence of this foreign condition he was a simple child of the earlier plains” (207). The use of a more sophisticated manner of settling undesirable situations and potentially criminal behavior indicates that Marshal Potter has evolved as …show more content…
The initial reluctance to let go of the classic Wild Western ways of Jack Potter and Scratchy Wilson creates a sense of personal conflict that serves as a parallel for the inner cultural struggles of an evolving culture. As with many rising societies, order is often one of the last cultural aspects to be developed when transition into a more civilized and regulated system is undergone. Without a set of governing policies a civilization will never be able to fully develop into a more sophisticated version of itself. Through the use of marriage, the train, and period clothing as symbols for the order that was missing in the culture of Yellow Sky, changes that take place in “The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky” can also be understood as being direct representations of how effective the Industrial Revolution’s expedition of aspects of the evolution of American culture truly
Crane also uses marriage as well to symbolize broadly the missing structural components of Yellow Sky’s civilized culture. Even though Potter feels that his marriage is scandalous is insecure as to how the townspeople of Yellow Sky will react to his “he knew full well that his marriage was an important thing to his town” (200). Throughout time and across all cultures, marriage was typically been associated as being a means of instilling structure into a person’s life. Crane acknowledges this reality when he describes the Eastern way of living and the place that the institution of marriage holds in it. The final acceptance of Yellow Sky’s newfound order is personified by Marshal Potter refusal to fight Wilson because he was a newly married man. As a result, Wilson calls off the shootout and reveals himself to be a man who cannot fit into a more refined society. Crane points out that, “[Wilson] was not a student of chivalry; it was merely that in the presence of this foreign condition he was a simple child of the earlier plains” (207). The use of a more sophisticated manner of settling undesirable situations and potentially criminal behavior indicates that Marshal Potter has evolved as …show more content…
The initial reluctance to let go of the classic Wild Western ways of Jack Potter and Scratchy Wilson creates a sense of personal conflict that serves as a parallel for the inner cultural struggles of an evolving culture. As with many rising societies, order is often one of the last cultural aspects to be developed when transition into a more civilized and regulated system is undergone. Without a set of governing policies a civilization will never be able to fully develop into a more sophisticated version of itself. Through the use of marriage, the train, and period clothing as symbols for the order that was missing in the culture of Yellow Sky, changes that take place in “The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky” can also be understood as being direct representations of how effective the Industrial Revolution’s expedition of aspects of the evolution of American culture truly