28 pages • 56 minutes read
Stephen CraneThe Bride Comes to Yellow Sky
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1898A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Death of the Wild West
By the time “The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky” was published in 1898, the days of the Wild West were ending. The construction of transcontinental railways allowed passengers to comfortably reach distant cities, thereby connecting the coasts. The train ride from San Antonio, where Jack Potter and his bride were wed, to Yellow Sky is significant because it reflects these recent developments.
The inevitability of the progression from Eastern US values and mores to Western ones is evident in Crane’s opening line: “The great train was rushing forward such steady dignity of motion that a glance from the window seemed simply to prove that the flatlands of Texas were pouring toward the east” (16). The description of “rushing forward” indicates the speed of this development, and the perception that the flatlands are “pouring toward the east” suggests that the West is being overtaken by the East, as if by an inescapable force.
The train ride also reveals the presence of a servant class steeped in established hierarchies; these structures will supplant the efforts of free-wheeling individuals who seek to create their own destinies, entrenching them in clearly defined social networks and roles that govern their interactions. To celebrate their marriage, for example, Potter and his bride order dinner in the club car for one dollar, a princely sum at that time. They are waited on by a server who directs them through their meal. However, they are uncomfortable with this attention, and “as they returned to their seats, they showed in their faces a sense of escape” (18). They find being waited on awkward and confusing, preferring the isolation and invisibility of the West to the conventions of the East.
Additional elements of the “civilized” East appear during the course of the train ride. The grandness of the train car itself, outfitted in rich materials like sea-green cloth, glass, silver, and polished wood, demonstrates the lush trappings of settled domesticity. These stand in contrast to the more austere buildings associated with the Wild West—one-room schoolhouses and log cabins, painstakingly constructed with wood the pioneer chopped himself. During the journey, Potter presents his bride with the gift of a silver watch, another symbol of modern civilization. In cities, patterns of waking and sleeping are no longer governed by internal bodily rhythms that are regulated by natural light and darkness. Instead, homogenized timekeeping is a new and necessary innovation, requiring a watch or clock that dictates when a person will wake up, sleep, eat, and work.
In sum, the qualities and patterns that define pioneer life and are romanticized in westerns are coming to a swift end at the time of Crane’s writing and will be replaced by the civilizing forces of the East.
Gender Roles in a Domestic Setting
Potter’s transition from eternal bachelor to married man is mired in ambiguity. As an unattached man, he was hardened by the elements; his hands were “roughened,” and his face was “reddened from many days in the wind and sun” (16). Yet, he sits in the train car in his “new black clothes” (16), admiring himself from time to time. The bride also wears new clothes, although they make her feel “strange”: “One could tell that she had cooked and that she expected to cook, dutifully” (17). Both husband and wife are uncomfortable with their new garments, which they wear like costumes for the roles of husband and wife that they are about to perform.
They inhabit these roles tenderly and competently; despite some apprehensions, they appear to be optimistic. The bride looks upon her groom with “a happy expression” (18), although a passenger observes her evident nervousness and laughs to himself. Potter’s face shines with delight, which makes him appear foolish to some of the other passengers. He “bravely” commits to spending money on a fancy meal to celebrate their union and “proudly” presents her with the gift of a silver watch he purchased in San Antonio. These actions illustrate that he will provide an acceptable degree of material wealth for his bride. She, in turn, will cook and attend to other domestic household duties. There is a clear set of gendered roles and expectations that both partners are aware of and prepared to fulfill.
As the man in the relationship, Potter is expected to be the wiser one of the pair. He demonstrates his commitment to this duty by explaining the railway system to the bride and informing her of their arrival time. The bride dutifully listens and pretends he informed her, although she was already aware of the facts he imparted. Potter further emphasizes his status as head of the household by referring to his bride as “girl.” As he helps her down from the train platform—another chivalrous gesture—he says “[C]ome on, girl” (19) in an authoritative tone.
Both partners associate the comfort and relative luxury of their surroundings with the promise of their new domestic life: “To the minds of the pair, their surroundings repeated the glory of their wedding that morning in San Antonio. This was the spirit of their new life” (17). Potter recalls this image when later he is confronted by Scratchy Wilson pointing a gun at his chest: “At the back of his mind floated a picture of the beautiful car on the train. He thought of the glory of the wedding, the spirit of his new life” (24). The repetition of “glory” and the “spirit” of “new life” emphasizes their longing for settling down. Despite the awkwardness and nervous energy between them, they are optimistic about the promises offered by the institution of marriage and the sphere of domesticity.
Masculinity and Emasculation
Potter and Scratchy inhabit the stereotypically masculine roles of hero and villain, respectively. Prior to Potter’s marriage, they dutifully performed these roles at regular intervals: Scratchy, the town scoundrel, got drunk and started trouble, and Potter, the lawman, authoritatively put him in his place. No one was killed, although there was always the danger of that, and Potter once shot Scratchy in the leg. However, despite regarding each other as enemies, there is no evidence of any real animosity between them. They are simply playing their parts.
The roles they perform are expressions of a particular form of American masculinity popularized by the collective imagination of frontier sensibilities. The masculinity of the Old West promoted traits such as self-reliance, a high tolerance for risk, and an acknowledgment that violence is an acceptable, sometimes preferred way to achieve objectives and settle scores. This is evident in the way the customers and the saloonkeeper react upon hearing that Scratchy was on a rampage shooting up the town, apropos of nothing. The saloonkeeper and the three Texans sensibly stay indoors but are relatively unfazed by this development. This is in stark contrast to the panic evident in the salesman, an outsider, who is skilled in the art of chitchat but is entirely risk-averse. The salesman requires the presence of a conventional Western man—the saloonkeeper—to calm him down and instruct him on how to protect himself. He is otherwise ignorant and defenseless, representing the emasculated character of the East Coast ethos.
As Scratchy’s ballistic tantrum illustrates, violence is also a way to blow off steam, escape boredom, and entertain an otherwise sleepy town. In this environment, guns are a staple masculine accessory. In fact, Scratchy initially refuses to believe that Potter is unarmed. When Potter admits he doesn’t have a weapon on him, Scratchy says, “Don’t you tell me you haven’t got a gun with you, you dog. Don’t tell me a lie like that. There isn’t a man in Texas who ever saw you without a gun” (24).
The disarming of Potter as a result of his nuptials effectively emasculates both men. Scratchy stumbles to Potter’s house, the anticipated setting for an epic gunfight, and finds it empty. He works “himself into deepest anger over the stillness of a house” (23) and continues to scream impotently at it. All his masculine bluster is for naught. Once Potter arrives, both men continue to talk tough. Scratchy instructs him, “Don’t you move a muscle. The time has come for me to settle with you, and I’m going to do it my own way” (24). Potter calls him a “fool” and goads him to go ahead and shoot him, but without both men being armed, these are empty words. Neither man can fulfill his preordained masculine duties, as the buildup to the anticipated climax of a gunfight was subverted by the domesticating influence of Potter’s bride.
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