Jack's View Of His Role example essay topic

The story "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky", written by Stephen Crane, is a unique look at the old west and percents a different way of storytelling. Instead of focusing on the hero alone, Crane puts the Bride in the title to emphasise the importance of her role in the story. There is also an unusual ending to the story, setting it apart from stereotypical western stories. There is too, sybmolism in the story that makes it unique in its genre. The last sentence of the story has far more significance than perhaps is conceived at first glance. This very unique ending plays many roles in the final mood of the story, and resolves the major conflicts very quickly.

When analyzed closely, it is noticable that the ending is ironic, in the story and for the story. This means that in the story, the sentence sums up the ironic fact that Scratchy has been defeated, and not by the sword, per say... but by the woman. The sentence also creates an ironic ending for the story, as it is an abrupt ending, contraditcing the expected outcome of a shootout or fight of sorts. Instead, the hero raises not a hand, and the vill an surrenders without putting up a fight. By using the unique, desrciptive ending that Crane does, emphasizing the unexpectedness of the outcome with "funnel-shaped tracks" (627), it brings out the irony that the excitement and anticipation the story has "geared up" is then just shot down, with no shots fired at all! This last sentence, while creating the irony it does, and perhaps putting a sort of "downer" on the ending, also resolves the story abruptly, yet effectively.

The two main conflicts are that of Jack, worried about the world's view on his ability to carry out his duties now that he is married, and that of Scratchy, who is out to shoot up the town, and anyone in his path, especially Jack. The last sentence concludes the fact that the conflict between Jack and Scratchy is over, and Scratchy is defeated, and also concludes that Jack is still the boss, which is what he worried about throughout the story. The role of each character in a story is very important, though each character's idea of their own role may not be the same as other characters'. For instance, Jack sees his role as the town sherrif, though the Bride, and now Scratchy, see him as the husband. With more of the story having been written, we probably would have seen that the people of the town shared Jack's view of his role as the sherrif.

The Bride sees herself differently that others as well. She, having come from a different setting with a different role before she got married, feels out of place, while Jack has more confidence in her, and sees her simply as his wife, and not the cook. "It was quite apparent that she had cooked, and that she expected to cook, dutifully" (618). So the way each character views their own role determines much of the way they carry it out. And the idea that the other characters have of another character's role determines quite a bit of how they interact with them.

We see this in the final section of the story, when Scratchy's determined idea of Jack's being "the sheriff" is torn down and replaced with his realization of Jack as a married man. The difference, even if only in his mind, is drastic, and completly changes the way he interacts with Jack, as we see when he stands down and walks away. In this story, the "glittering" parlor car symbolizes the change in the Bride's life. It contrasts with her "plain, underclass countenance" (618) and represents her new life as a wife instead of a cook. But it also creates a mood of anxiety or worry. The Bride is not yet comfortable in her new lifestyle and role, and she projects it outside and inside.

Inside, she views other people as judging her, making her nervous, and therefore, on the outside, she looks misplaced, as she "twisted her head to regard her puff sleeves... They embarrassed her" (618). I expected the town of Yellow Sky to be more stereotypical. But as we see with Scratchy, for instance, he is not quite the typical "bad guy". This is shown in a comic way when he tried to hit the paper that he knives to the door, and misses, curses, and walks away. Also, Scratchy unexpectedly gives up the fight when he discovers that Jack is married.

Cranes characters fit into the town because they fit together with themselves. Each one has a place, or role, and they carry it out without conflicting with another's role. Written by Royce.