Stephen Crane review
...n tone and point of view, and frequently the works end without establishing either certainty about characters or resolution of thematic issues. Crane's imagery is vivid, but the works seldom provide final interpretations (e.g., the empty bucket in "A Mystery of Heroism"). These qualities contribute to Crane's multi-layered irony. The theme of "A Mystery of Heroism"" is the foolishness and pointlessness of war. Through his use of symbolism, Crane shows how war costs a very high price to accomplish its trivial goal. The story follows the soldier Collins on his impulsive journey to get water from a well across a dangerous field. Although Collins could easily be killed in doing this, he takes the joking suggestions of his comrades as a dare and goes anyway. After leaving, he realizes that he has been partly motivated by pride and wonders how his "quaint emotions" have led him into the face of death. He also contemplates heroism and that as his motive. However, he decides that he must not be a hero because he has shame in his life. Eventually, he concludes that "heroes were not much,” Collin’s motivation of pride is parallel to the fact that many wars are initiated because of foolish pride. The desires of thousands of men at war to be heroes and their confusion about whether or not they actually are heroes, is represented by Collin’s consideration of heroism. Crane uses vivid images of nature and beauty contracted with death and destruction. Although war stories of heroes are often glorified, their harsh reality is horrible. Crane’s description of a beautiful meadow being destroyed through several shelling parallels how war destroys innocent beauty. The hopelessness and pointlessness of war is made clear by Crane’s use of the symbol water. Collin’s journey involves risking his life for water, which represe...