Comparing The Bride Comes To Yellow Sky And The Open Boat

Stephen Crane and Jack London are two contrasting authors who use their own unique writing styles to create two unique genres that capture the reader’s interest. In two of Crane’s more prolific short stories “The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky” and “The Open Boat,” the vocabulary and use of dialogue add a sense of sophistication to his short stories while also making the stories smooth to read and eye-catching; whereas in Jack London’s short story “To Build a Fire,” the protagonist in the story is used as a catalyst for character development, and as an example to the audience of the naïveté of youth. London and Crane varied immensely in their literary techniques of vocabulary, dialogue, and character development demonstrated by the use of the protagonist

In “The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky,” his use of vocabulary caught the reader’s eye and keeps he/she interested, and the colloquial language during the dialogue made it easier to read and understand. As an example, using words as in “equanimity” and “fatuously” gain the reader’s attention because it makes the reader think about the meaning and the impact it may have on the story. However, the use of dialogue with Scratchy Wilson and the informal language also allows the reader to understand the story more fully. For example, “If you ain’t got a gun, why ain’t you got a gun” (Crane 6)? This demonstrates the Realist movement by not using flowery language, but it also allows the reader to understand the text fully because it is spoken in everyday language. In “The Open Boat,” the element of repetition during the dialogue adds to the seriousness of the situation, while also adding emphasis to what is being said. For instance, “Funny they haven’t seen us” (Crane 6) is used three times in the span of six paragraphs to add to the mood in the boat, which is very somber. The crew was hoping that a rescue boat would be able to find them, which never happened. Whether it is the vocabulary used or the dialogue in the two stories, Stephen Crane proficiently used the two methods to augment his stories, greatly differing from Jack