The Swede Analysis

Throughout history, the west has always been attributed to being untamed, a place on the outskirts of civilization. As settlers began to leave the Eastern parts of the United States in search of new opportunities, they began to found new extensions of humanity. These extensions were often shrewdly put together in comparison to their eastern counterparts and lacked many of the flourished representations of civilized society, because of this many eastern media sources began to exaggerate reports of the newly explored horizons. After hearing accounts of the new identity America was making for itself in the west and the tales of violence, survival, and conquest spun by newspapers and numerous texts, eastern states began to have an almost larger …show more content…
This portrayal of the west as an inhospitable land with settlers just as rugged would have arguably made it seem like he would be in danger from the moment he got there. In addition to this, being new to an area would have been stressful enough, so when the Swede finally gets off the train he is so taken aback by everything he comes into contact with his first response is that of paranoia. After having gotten off the train the Swede’s first noted words in the story are “some of these Western communities were very dangerous…” (Stephen Crane 1786) upon uttering this is when the notion of east vs. west is solidified, the Swede has no clue on how the character of these men and yet he instantly judges them as cutthroats by simply being in the west. After making it to Sully’s hotel the four travelers agree to play a game of high-five in which the teams are split between Johnnie and the cowboy against the Swede and the Easterner, which also reinforces the theme of east vs. west. This actual separation between east and west helps to depict the split that later arises between the characters, and although the easterner never explicitly takes the side of the Swede until the end he …show more content…
West takes place at the end of the play when, once again, the men play a game of high five and the teams are split exactly the same with the Swede and the Easterner on one team and Johnnie and the cowboy on the other. As the game progresses the Swede accuses Johnnie of cheating, to which the Swede and Johnnie almost commenced a bloody brawl inside the hotel only to be stopped by the other men. At first, Scully had been against letting the two fight but, finally having been pushed to his breaking point by the words of overconfident Swede, Scully agreed to let the two fight stating “I can’t put up with it any longer. I’ve stood this damned Swede till I’m sick. We’ll let them fight.” (Stephen Crane 1795) Scully having uttered the words that he can no longer put up with the Swede makes for there to be a clear divide between the men and the Swede, the Easterner does not clearly take a side until the end, all of the men besides the Easterner want to see the Swede harmed by Johnnie. As Johnnie and the Swede are fighting the cowboy goes so far as to explicitly vocalize that he wants Johnnie to kill the Swede. Moreover, nearing the end of the battle between Johnnie and the Swede everyone, besides the easterner, is up cheering for Johnnie to beat the Swede down. At the end of the battle between the two men the Swede stands courageous and is full of arrogance that he had beaten Johnnie, it is this arrogance that comes ever so closely to