The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky

Crane's Use of Ironic Symbolism in "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky"


Stephen Crane's "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky," as well as his other Western stories, owe much to Mark Twain's approach to the West. According to Eric Solomon, "both authors…used humor to comment on the flaws of traditional fictional processes" (237). While employing parody of the Western literary tradition, Crane also uses realism to depict the influence of the East on the West. In "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky," Stephen Crane uses symbolism to develop his study of the changes effected on the West and the roles of its inhabitants by the encroachment of eastern society.

"The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky" is a parable of the East's invasion of the West through role changes in a small western town. This invasion is perfectly illustrated in the first setting. Crane writes, "The great Pullman was whirling onward with such dignity of motion that a glance from the window seemed simply to prove that the plains of Texa...