The Red Badge of Courage and Selected Sh - Stephen Crane [104]
3 (p. 135) the Mosquito Inlet Light: The name Mosquito Coast Inlet was changed to Ponce Inlet in 1927. Located approximately 11 miles south-southeast from the center of Daytona Beach, Florida, this lighthouse went into service in 1887. Located in a region known for shipwrecks since the sixteenth century, it radiated a beam of light visible 20 miles out at sea.
4 (p. 142) the seven mad gods: Critics have advanced several possibilities about the gods Crane had in mind. Most believe that one of the seven was the Olympian god Poseidon (Neptune in Roman mythology) and that the other six were compilations of the many sea deities from Greek myth. Crane may have considered Pontos, the most ancient of Greek sea gods, and his children Phorkos, Thaumas, Nereus, Eurybia, Keto, and Aigaion. Robert Stallman suggests that Crane chose their number to correspond to the seven men stranded on the deck of the sinking Commodore.
5 (p. 146) a pale star appeared: Given that Crane saw this celestial object near the eastern horizon, it was most likely Betelgeuse. Less likely possibilities include Aldebaran and the planet Mars.
6 (p. 148) two points off the port bow: There are thirty-two points on a mariner’s compass; here the captain orders the oiler to angle the boat 22.5 degrees off the port bow to compensate for the current.
7 (p. 150) “I never more shall see my own, my native land”: This line is from the opening stanza of British poet Caroline Norton’s “Bingen on the Rhine,” which was often included in poetry anthologies of the period.
8 (p. 154) hanging with his one good hand: The captain’s calculation causes him to violate his own advice. His broken arm compels him to hang on to the surf-tossed boat in order to increase his chances for survival.
9 (p. 155) a scene from Brittany or Algiers: Brittany is a former province in northwestern France; Algiers is the capital of Algeria, which France had occupied in 1830 and annexed in 1848. Many nineteenth-century French artists, especially Impressionists and proto-Impressionists, painted landscapes and portraits from these regions.
10 (p. 156) he gave a strong pull: In his dispatch, Crane identifies his rescuer as John Kitchell, a boatyard manager and ferryman from Daytona Beach.
11 (p. 156) face downward, lay the oiler: Although he was likely struck by the dinghy as the surf thrashed it about, the cause for Billy Higgins’s death was never ascertained.
The Veteran
1 (p.157) The Veteran: This story was first published in McClure’s Magazine in June 1896 and was collected later that year in The Little Regiment and Other Episodes of the American Civil War.
2 (p. 159) old Fleming: Crane employs this phrase in contrast with the epithet “youth” in The Red Badge of Courage.
3 . (p. 159) how an orderly sergeant ranked: An orderly sergeant was a position of great trust in a regiment. Toward the end of The Red Badge of Courage Fleming had just begun to earn such recognition—he was praised by his superiors for being a “jimhickey.”
4 (p. 159) little Jim: Another interesting Crane contrast: In The Red Badge of Courage Jim Conklin was called the “tall soldier,” while here his namesake is “little Jim.”
5 (p. 160) Sickles’s colt: This is perhaps an allusion to Daniel Sickles; see note 21 to The Red Badge of Courage regarding Fleming’s possible Corps commander.
6 (p. 163) the genie of fable: This is an allusion to Arabian myths, such as the story of Aladdin.
The Men in the Storm
1 (p. 165) The Men in the Storm: Prior to his success with The Red Badge of Courage, Crane had been making a study of tenement life in New York City while enduring the hardships of poverty himself In late February 1894, the city was experiencing an intense cold snap, with temperatures in the single digits intensified