美国文学概况期末论文.doc

第5页（共5页）Abstract: The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky is a short story about the Western United States ,which written by Stephen Crane in 1898. In the late 19th century, the technology gap between the west America and the east was wide, and with the rapid expansion of the railroads made the conflicts and communication between the west and the east possible and indeed inevitable.People living in the west enjoyed the fruit of industrialization while those in the east lived a traditional lifestyle. However, it is inevitable that when the traditional culture is faced with the industrial civilization, the convention is more likely to be defeated because nothing can hinder the advancements of human , though it may have lots of virtue.Key words: Stephen Crane;culture;human;industrialization;traditionSynopsis:Jack Potter, the town marshal of Yellow Sky, who had gone to San Antonio, a eastern city, to meet the girl he believed he loved and actually induced her to marry him,went back to his hometown with his wife.During their journey back on The Great Pullman, a luxurious train, Potters behavior obviously revealed he was a man from the countries, or the east,which caused much taunt from the other passengers.Though the wife of Potter was not pretty, nor was she very young,Potter loved his wife very much.Because Potter married a girl from the east without consulting any part of the transaction, he felt he had committed an extraordinary crime,though he was a man known,liked, and feared in his corner.He dared not to show his friends his wife.So the Potters walked sheepishly back to home after reaching Yellow Sky.Sometimes they laughed together shamefacedly and low described the writer.Meanwhile, Scratchy Wilson was drunk.When he was drunk he was a terror who used to hold a revolver and wander the little town, looking for somebody to fight with.However, when he was sober, hes all right and even wouldnt hurt a fly-the nicest fellow in town. Jack Potter once shot Wilson up in the leg when he was drunk and became an ancient antagonist of him.This time ,Scratchy Wilson eventually got to the empty house of Potter.After howling for a long time without any reply, hes extremely angry and paused for breath and reloaded his revolves.The Potters came across Wilson finally and Wilson lashed his weapon to Potters chest.Wilson was a simple and childish man.Told that Jack Potter had been married, Wilson became depressed and went away ,his feet making funnel-shaped tracks in the heavy sand.Remarks: The Bride Comes to the Yellow Sky describes the conflicts when the traditional east culture contacted with the advanced industrial west culture.At the beginning of the passage , a train that ran right across thousand miles from one end of Texas to the other is a symbol of the advanced industrial civilization which brought the modern technology to the wild west.As the writer wrote: “The Great Pullman was whirling onward with such dignity of motion that a glance from the window seemed simply to proved that the plains of Texas were pouring eastward.”, the convention of the west was gone gradually with the impact of the east.Though the east civilization improved the life quality of the west people, some old virtues of the west were changed and forgotten.The writers opinion on whether it is all right that the old traditions was hit by the east is contradictory. On the one hand, the arrival of the civilization made the young country advanced. On the other hand, the civilization was aggressive.If something wants to progress, it must choose to give up something, so does the society.With the impact of the east culture, some of the west people lost their sincerity and became shallow.The main character, Jack Potter, was the town marshal of Yellow Sky, a man known, liked, and feared in his corner.He was respected in his town, but when he was in the train, he looked down respectfully at his attire.He sat with a hand on each knee, like a man waiting in a barbers shop. The glances he devoted to other passengers were furtive and shy. Besides, Potter could have married a beautiful local girl who was not very poor instead of the girl from San Antonio who wasnt pretty nor very young and came from the lowest class of the society.From there we can notice that the west culture is the disadvantaged one of the two culture.Accordingly, even the negro porter who was in a weak social class subtly used all the manners of the most unconquerable kind of snobbery towards the new couple.This plot indicates that it is inevitable that the advanced east culture will conquer the underdeveloped west culture eventually, just like the theory that the weak is the prey of the strong.The people lived in Yellow Sky was in an ancient lifestyle. They got to know the clock by waiting for the train arranged by time to come. Scratchy Wilson is a typical character of west people.He is simple and childish.He wouldnt hurt a fly.He is the nicest fellow in this town.In a short word, he owned the precious virtue of sincerity, which was lacked by people in the east who enjoyed the fruit of the industry civilization. However, when Wilson was drunk, he became another typical character of the west people-the cowboy. Cowboy was a legend of the west, but obviously Wilson was alone and almost there were nobody could fight with him, expect Jack Potter. However, when he wanted to fight with Potter, Potter responded his taunt by saying:”Ive just come from San Anton with my wife. Im married”.At this moment Wilson was astonished and couldnt comprehend at all.After a period of silence, he went away with his feet making funnel-shaped tracks in the heavy sand.Wilson went away,accompanied with the disappearance of the old order.Jack Potter in this article represented the people who tried to adapt to the modern world, while Scratchy Wilson represented the people having no contact with