Question

How does Crane describe each of the principal characters in the work? Why does he typically refer to them as “the Easterner,” “the cowboy,” “the Swede,” and so forth instead of naming them? What characteristics does he ascribe to each person?

Answer 1

Crane describes each of his characters in different ways.

Step-by-step explanation:

"The Blue Hotel" by "Stephen Crane" is a story about isolation and how being estranged from one's group can be harmful for that person.

The owner of the hotel is 'Scully', who is constantly trying to keep his guest, 'Swede' happy. 'Swede' is known by the name of his origin throughout the story. He behaves strangely and he is suffering from paranoia. He thinks everyone is trying to kill him. The other guests in the train station are “The Easterner" and 'cowboy'.

"The Easterner" is silent who is more of an observer and is baffled by Swede's behavior.

The third passenger "The Cowboy", looks exactly like one of the cowboy characters of romantic dime novels. Also. he has some characteristics like that of a person in cowboy mythology.

"The barkeeper" is another person with whom Swede interacts negatively.