Life Exposed In Stephen Crane's The Blue Hotel

In the short story “The Blue Hotel” written by Stephen Crane, important themes are exposed such as human behavior, violence, drugs, honesty, nature. Through the story, Crane presents hints to these themes however; the most prevalent themes are the conflicts between man and society, man against nature, and the self destructive theme. By examining these themes, Crane’s attitude towards life is revealed.
The conflict between man versus himself is exhibit in many parts of the story. For example, when Swede feels that everybody in the blue hotel wants to kill him. “These men are going to kill me” (pg 232) He feels that everybody in the hotel is angry at him and they want to kill him. None the less, Swede is just been paranoid since he could have been under the influence of drugs such as alcohol. The self destructive behavior that Swede exhibits is the direct result of the atmosphere in which he has placed himself. However, the main reason that reflects the self destructive theme in this story is when Swede recovers himself from the fear of death and picks up a fight with Johnny. He defeats Johnny in
The man versus society theme in this story is clearly reflected in Swede against the people in the Blue Hotel. The Blue hotel will represent a society since Johnny, the Eastern, the Cowboy, and Scully portray a unique group that could define as a culture. For instance, when Swede tells Johnny that he is cheating in the card game. The dishonest behavior from Johnny disgust Swede to a point that he decides to quit. Swede’s remarks regarding the dishonesty of Johnny clearly creates a conflict between the people in the Blue Hotel since no one thinks that Johnny is cheating. Perhaps for the Eastern, the Cowboy, and Scully, Johnny’s behavior is a normal thing among the people in this little town in