“The Bride Comes To Yellow Sky” by Stephen Crane gives us a depiction of the social dynamic of a small town which can be compared to the small town from “Young Goodman Brown” written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. To first understand the social dynamic, one needs to understand the story and who Jack Potter is. Jack Potter is the town marshal of Yellow Sky which is a little town that is in Texas. Being the town marshal, Jack Potter is a person who people look up to because he is an authority figure and also as someone who deals with the town’s conflicts that arise. Jack Potter is a newlywed who is bringing his wife along home and feels like a traitor to his own town because he got married without the affirmation of the town. Jack Potter feels like he had “committed an extraordinary crime” (29) in his own words which show that this isn’t a crime that happens every day and will leave a strong impression on the town. At this point, it is well understood since Jack Potter is an authority figure who is even feared at times still owes the town to be completely honestly and is comparable to religious figures who also hold an authoritarian figure in Nathaniel Hawthorne work. The main difference in how each author depict the social dynamic in their own story deals is how the characters are involved in the story. In Stephen Crane’s story, he is able to provide a typical day in the west due to involving the drummer whose unfamiliarity with Scratch Wilson, the town drunk who arms two revolvers which causes the reaction of the Mexican men to leave right away. The other men that are left are also familiar with the situation and are irritated with the drummer due to him asking questions. To the reader, based on the reaction of the people in the town, we are able to understand that this is a common occurrence that occurs and a certain routine will be taken to ensure their safety. Hawthorne uses religion and what it stands for to describe the small town actions and behavior. Crane uses a conflict to give insight while Hawthorne uses consequences of religion to drive home the point of loss of faith through deconstructing the people in the town and how they go on their day after they are exposed.
5 thoughts on “Just Another Day in the West (“The Bride Comes To Yellow Sky” – Stephen Crane)”
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I would agree that the social dynamic of “The Bride Comes To Yellow Sky” is reflected by the incident where Scratch Wilson is drunk, roaming the streets of the town where everyone acts like it’s a normal day routine. However, the social dynamic does change since Jack Potter, the town’s marshal, is not there in town during the incident where he usually deals with Scratch Wilson himself. Since he isn’t there, the common routine to ensure safety is changed which is why the men in the saloon are taking extra precaution than usual since no one can deal with Scratch Wilson one on one like the marshal can.
The comparison you did with the two stories it makes sense because it has almost the same point of view and you can make a connection with these two readings. The only difference as you said was that the dynamic that they used for the characters, but in the history of Stephen Crane describes the character in a way that leads us get into the story and we can follow it like if we were there where the story was going on. I really liked the connection that you did with the two stories it clarify some doubts I had.
I would agree with what he said about Jack Potter. He looks like a head of the town. People trust him and he can fight anyone. When Wilson was about to shoot someone, people were talking about Potter and that only he can fight him back. He was the town marshal, so people listen to him and they believe he can deal with anything. He got married without saying anything to anyone, that is way when he mentioned his wife to Wilson, everyone got quite. That means no one knew about the wedding and Potter felt kind of bad about it by not telling anyone.
In “The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky” there are a lot of interesting factors. For example, the author use of characterization to describe each charter reflects the importance role of each charter. For instance, ”The bride was not pretty, nor was she young. She wore a dress of blue cashmere, with small reservations of velvet here and there with still buttons abounding.” In other words, the bride is describe as an ordinary women. In fact, not once is the bride name mention in the story. Even though, the main reason why Jack Potter is not killed is because of his marriage his wive seem not to be an important aspect. He could of been married to any other women and this will still have the same effect on Scratch Willson reaction.
I also agree that Stephan Crane gives us a social dynamic of the town. The story shows how a typical day in the west is like. When Scratch was introduced it encouraged the western feel because of the guns that he had. With Jack Potter gone and Scratch on the loose the people in the bar knew they were going to get into trouble if they run into Scratch. The social dynamic we get from the story is very interesting.