Stephen Crane is a well-known author of variety of short stories. He was born in Newark, New Jersey, the son of a Methodist minister. After schooling at Lafayette College and Syracuse University, he worked in New York as a freelance journalist. His short stories and experimental poetry, also, anticipate the ironic realism of the decades ahead. In his brief and energetic life, he published fourteen books while acting out, in his personal adventures, the legend …showed first 75 words of 661 total…

…showed last 75 words of 661 total…he had been drinking. The theme of death in “The Blue Hotel” is present throughout the novel. Crane’s use of color, character flaws, and plot help strengthen this theme. Crane uses the Swedes fear of death to be his death. Had the Swede not been drinking he more than likely would not have become so aggressive and in turn he would not have started the fight with the gambler that led to his death.