Stephen Crane's Short Story "The Term Paper

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He knows that introducing his wife into this setting may be uncomfortable. Marriage seems to symbolize a settling down of the wildness in his nature. By marrying, Potter fears that he has "committed an extraordinary crime" (970). For fear of his two worlds colliding too suddenly, Potter rushes his bride off the train and to his home so that he can more subtly introduce this bit of civilization into Yellow Sky.

Unknown to Potter, the representation of Texas' past is on the loose at the same time in his town. Scratchy Wilson as described by the bartender is "the last one of the old gang that used to hang out along the river here. He's a terror when he's drunk" (974). In stereotypical western fashion, Wilson wears dark clothing and plays the part of the wild outlaw who randomly terrorizes the town and its inhabitants. Crane provides ample evidence to show how citizens are frightened of Wilson and his acts of violence through the bartender's words to the traveling Drummer.

Further evidence is supplied by Wilson's actions when he shoots at the innocent dog and door of the bar. Yet, Wilson finds no relief from his western angst and is forced to seek the only man who will fight him, Jack Potter, at his home. As Potter and his wife rush "sheepishly and shamefacedly" to their home, they are unexpectedly confronted by Wilson and his gun. Uncharacteristically, Potter does not have a gun and must confess this to Wilson. As Potter is making this statement, his mind travels back to the beauty of the train, "the glory of the marriage, the environment of the new estate" (976).

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The collision of east and west has occurred in this passage. Potter does not have a gun because he has taken on the vestiges of the new world. Potter is not completely progressive himself, but he has played the part and been adopted into civilization.

Nevertheless, Potter's bravado is pure western when he informs Wilson "to shoot me up, you better begin now; you'll never get a chance like this again'" (977). When Wilson learns that Potter's lack of a gun is due to his marriage to the "drooping, drowning woman at the other man's side" (977), it takes him several minutes to comprehend the change that has taken place. Ultimately, the idea of marriage renders Wilson unable to act. His western villain persona has no way to deal with this civilizing event, "it was merely that in the presence of this foreign condition (marriage) he was a simple child of the earlier plains" (977).

As Wilson holsters his weapons and trudges away in the heavy sand, the reader knows that he is a dinosaur, a thing of the past. The wild west has been soundly defeated by the simple civilizing event of a marriage and the appearance of sophistication in Potter with his new clothes and lack of gun. Ultimately, Potter brought more to Yellow Sky than a bride; he invited in the forces of change more clearly than even the Southern Pacific Railroad.

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