The Blue Hotel

Who (if anyone) does the story ultimately suggest is responsible for the murder of the Swede? Use details from the text and engage with Crane’s depiction of agency (or lack thereof) for his characters.

Take the Easterner’s theory that “every sin is the result of a collaboration” (393). Does the story agree with this claim? Use supporting evidence from the text.

While this story criticizes certain ways of mythologizing the West, it also offers its own mythology of the American West, emphasizing its vastness and isolation (in implied contrast to the East). How is this depiction like or dislike other contemporary descriptions of the West that you’ve encountered? (Consider authors like Jack London, Mark Twain, or William Dean Howells.)