The Blue Hotel (Magill Book Reviews)

At a glance:

In a small Nebraska town named Fort Romper, events unfold against a howling blizzard one winter evening in the late 1880’s. Three characters--a Swede, an Easterner, and a cowboy--are guests at the hotel run by Scully, who is noted for his hospitality.

From outward appearances it seems that the men are secure. They are gathered around a hot potbellied stove, and they are constantly reassured by their host that all is well. Then, a discordant note is struck. The Swede suddenly becomes alarmed and wildly asserts that he will be murdered in the hotel that night.

The Swede’s peculiar behavior is a puzzle to everyone except the Easterner. He understands that the poor foreigner’s view of the West has been distorted by dime novels. The Swede refuses to believe that he is in a respectable hotel, and Scully’s attempt to calm his nerves with a drink of whiskey results in his getting drunk and becoming even more belligerent.

Subsequently, a fierce fist fight breaks out between the Swede and Scully’s teenaged son, Johnny, who is thrashed by the older man. The Swede’s earlier assertion that he will be killed that night proves prophetic.

Full of bravado and confidence after whipping Scully’s son, the Swede goes to a saloon and picks a fight with another man, who kills him suddenly with a knife in the ribs.

The whole story is told in a detached style that is full of scrupulous, symbolic details. Underneath the parody of the Old West, Crane is working out a deeply skeptical, naturalistic theme: man’s inability to perceive the world clearly. The whole tragic web of misunderstanding is caused by each character’s distortion of reality. In an atmosphere that should have provided security from the wild external forces of nature, there was something internal, in the heart of man, that was, ironically, an even more lethal threat to survival than the raging storm outside. The blue color of the hotel serves as a chromatic symbol of the sad human situation.