Stephen Crane and Realism

       Stephen Crane wrote three poems, "In the Desert," "A Man Said to the Universe," and "War is Kind," that reflect the ideas of naturalism. In "A Man Said to the Universe," Crane portrayed his naturalist beliefs by showing that man's existence has no significance of obligation to the spacious universe, which could be seen as greater than man. It shows how he believes that God has made man but has ignored him and his existence. In "War is Kind," Crane explained that war is kind because it ended the lives of suffering men quickly. He wrote, "Do not weep, babe, for war is kind./ Because your father tumbled in yellow trenches,/ Raged at his breast, gulped and died," but later wrote, "Swift blazing flag of the regiment,/ Eagle with crest of red and gold,/ These men were born to drill and die. Point for them the virtue of the slaughter, make plain to them the excellence of killing" (Crane 1). Crane depicted the miseries of dying in war but contrasted it with an agreeable ending by explaining that this is one of the best ways to die.

       

       In Stephen Crane's "In the Desert," he wrote about a creature that eats its own heart, but it enjoys it. The creature liked its heart, "Because it is bitter,/ and because it is my heart" (Crane 1). The creature's reason for liking his heart is similar to the arguments of Jonathan Franzen in "Liking is for Cowards. Go for What Hurts." The heart of the creature was bitter yet it ate of it and liked it because it was bitter and its actual self, not because others liked it or because it was a popular thing to do. The "liking" of this poem is the kind of "liking" that Franzen suggests people should think and feel because it is derived from something true and "Something realer than likability has come out in you, and suddenly you're having an actual life" (Franzen 2).

Why does Crane explain why war is kind to maidens and babes but not to mothers about their sons?