Alicia Rush
Don Godfrey
ENGL 1510
“A Dark Brown Dog” Analysis
In Stephen Crane’s short story of “A Dark Brown Dog”, he writes about a young boy who finds, neglects, and befriends a ragged puppy, with a rope dragging the ground, when they meet. The boy takes fun in abusing the puppy, but when he tires of this he makes his way home. The puppy, even though the boy was not nice, starts to follows the boy home. When arriving home the boy defends the puppy to claiming him as his own. The boy’s father agrees to allow the boy to keep the puppy. The boy and the puppy grow very fond of each other. The puppy was abused but always showing his love even after his abuse. Then the story takes a very sad, gruesome turn for the young dog.
The story
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(1) Braden’s analysis was a very deep reading on what he saw behind the story. But after reading deeper into the life of Stephen Crane it is very easy to see that “A Dark Brown Dog” is the story based off what Crane witnessed on the streets. The young boy lived in a very run down part of the city in a fifth story apartment; tales of the father coming home and abusing not only the dog but his family as well.
Argument is based off the Biography of Stephen Crane, he lived a bohemian lifestyle for a while living in poverty and had firsthand experience with street life. Crane also was known for living in the “bowery” section, which was a down trodden tenement districts. Crane’s other stories had recognition for writing brutally honest stories about life experiences. Crane was also known for his plot less stories due to him writing about experiences he was either involved in or witnessed with his own eyes.
Being known for writing what he saw and experienced gave Crane his recognition in his book “Maggie: A Girl of the Streets” was said to be a very brutal story of a prostitute that lived on the streets. Crane’s eye for detail gives “A Dark Brown Dog” full life; that this was just a short story based off of what he experienced while living on the street. He wrote about the life of a little boy that he watched and the tragedy that the boy had to deal with in
1. The fresh approach in Crane's writing is how it goes back and forth between traditional realism from Henry's point of view to Crane's ironical one. Also, the way throughout the story you don't know what war he is in. Where he's at or even what side he's on. It's purely just his experience through war.
In the story, Crane uses literary techniques such as logos and ethos to describe the harshness of the Civil War and of life. The story tells of a Civil War lieutenant who is shot in the arm while parting out coffee for his troops, and despite the lack of severity of the wound, his arm must be amputated. The lieutenant uses logic when he struggles and denies the fact that his arm requires amputation, but the doctor insists. The story tells of his struggle by saying, “‘Let go of me,’ said the lieutenant, holding back wrathfully, his glance fixed upon the door of the old schoolhouse, as sinister to him as the portals of death.” This shows the seriousness of life and the unfairness of it because the lieutenant was not engaged in battle, yet a stray bullet hit his arm. The story also shows emotion when the lieutenant’s arm is unjustly amputated and he must sooth his family by telling them that his situation is not as serious as they make it out to be, although he himself felt it was unfair. He faces life with dignity and realizes the seriousness of
Crane was giving the abysmal family life because again he was trying to give readers a background as well as a peak into the life of these people. He was explaining and analyzing the level of literacy buy writing passages how they would sound if you said it out loud. He was also showing how hard it was for people growing up in that lifestyle.
Stephen Crane is a Naturalist. Naturalists believe an individual’s life is determined by environment, chance, and heredity. They also believe that free will is an illusion and that people should endure their suffering with quiet dignity. Lastly, Naturalists believe survival of the fittest and natural selection govern people as well as nature, and people resort to the animal during a crisis. Crane uses literary elements to create Naturalist themes in “A Mystery of Heroism” and “An Episode of War.” Although both of the stories have Naturalist themes, Crane uses different elements to create them.
In the novel called “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” a fifteen year old boy named
Stephen Crane was one of America’s most influential nineteenth century writers of realism. He was credited for being a novelist, short-story-writer, poet, and journalist. He was born on November 1, 1871, in Newark, New Jersey, as Stephen Townley Crane. Stephen was the youngest sibling of fourteen children (“Stephen Crane Biography”). His writing inspiration came from his family. His mother dedicated her life to social concerns, while his father was a Methodist minister. Two of Crane’s brothers were journalists so it was destined for Stephen Crane to become a writer. His passion came from his parents and the insights from his family life. He attended preparatory school at Claverack College, where he developed a better concept of the Civil
Some Background information you should know about Stephen Crane. Crane was born in Newark in New Jersey on November 1, 1871. He lived into New York for a while to work as a newspaper writer, that inspired him to write his first novel "Maggie: A Girl of the streets". Living in New York, Crane struggled trying to make sketches and articles and feature them to New York newspapers. He first enrolled in Pennington Seminary then after other schools he went to Syracuse University. Some of Stephen crane's great accomplishments. Crane accomplished getting his poems and short stories published. Crane got his first novel published in late February or early March 1893. He wrote his first well known
Beginning in the early years of Stephen Crane’s life, he was the last son of thirteen other siblings. Being raised by a Methodist family on both sides, Stephan’s parents focused a lot of their time writing religious articles. He also had two brother’s that were journalist, one working as a reporter. Growing up with several
People tend to be greatly influenced by stories, news, and other contemporary sources of knowledge, which ultimately affects the impact they have on the world. Stephen Crane was greatly impacted by the time period in which he lived. One such influence was the popular literary style of Realism. Realism is the trend in which literature is based on the true nature of everyday occurrences devoid of any fantasy or romance. It is the raw depiction of what life and society is actually like. This literary style can be found in many of Stephen Crane’s novels. Religion also had a significant impact on the way Stephen Crane wrote his novels. He was an atheist which brought about the idea that humans are just part of nature and must solve their own problems without the intervention of a higher being. This notion is evident with the protagonist of The Red Badge of Courage. Henry Fleming, a young union soldier in the Civil War, must overcome the fear of putting his life at risk to achieve what he wants most which is honor. Honor comes from actively participating in battle and sacrificing his life for the cause. Honor is physically represented from a wound noted as the “Red Badge”. In the end Henry doesn’t consult in a higher being and achieves what he wants most by overcoming the mental obstacles and ultimately finding the strength within to realize what courage actually is. Accompanied by the literary movements and his religion, his time period was heavily influenced by the
In the story of Young Goodman Brown, as a reader we see many circumstances where Hawthorne uses irony in straightforward situations. I have learned from reading several of the author’s works that it is up to the reader to decide the meaning behind his stories. In this paper, I will be discussing the significance of the title, Young Goodman Brown and how I believe there is more to the story than what Hawthorne writes. Young Goodman Browns journey within the forest revealed truths not only within him, but within human nature and society. On page, 1103 Goodman Brown states “there may be a devilish Indian behind every tree.”
Crane’s use of characterization helps the reader form ideas or hypotheses about the way a character will act throughout the story. In Chapter One, as Pete is approaching the brawl on the street, he is given the following description:
Ichabod Crane is portrayed as an interesting, complex character in the story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” Crane is an excellent example of how not everyone is exactly how they seem. His slippery, dark personality can not easily be identified on paper in the story, but Irving made sure the message was deeper than it is on paper. Many readers understand the big plot and the exciting timeline of this story, but what is communicated underneath is what is often looked over. Irving, by writing a comical phenomenon, solidified himself as being one of the best writers of his era, but what really stood out was what he used the character of Ichabod Crane to communicate about society.
I. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “Young Goodman Brown” and Thomas Wolfe’s short story “The Child by Tiger” show glaring similarities in many parts of each stories structure. Even though these stories were set in different time periods and different cultures, there is unity in their conflicts, themes, and author’s purpose.
One of Washington Irving’s short and most famous stories ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’ has become a ghoulish characteristic yet an individual might still be unaccustomed with its idiocy (Hoffman, 425). Based on the real legend of Ichabod Crane, the story reveals how he disappeared. For that reason, the story revolves around the themes of wealth, appearances, truth, warfare, supernatural, gluttony and greed. On the other hand, 'The Tell-Tale Heart ' is a short story that has been written by Edgar Allen Poe. Within the story, Poe reveals two major themes of madness and guilt whereby the narrator unable to deal with his guilt making him confess everything to the police
“Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a complex tale with many hidden meanings and themes. Hawthorne uses literary devices to propel his story further into speculation of the unknown world. In his essay, Fogle uses examples of irony and symbols of opposites to convey the mystery behind Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown.” Without both ambiguity and clarity, the story would not portray an atmosphere of doubt which is at the core of Hawthorne’s tale.