The Blue Hotel

An archetype is “a character, situation, emotion, symbol, or event that is recurrent throughout different stories from many cultures. Because of the frequency with which these are scene, they’re considered universal symbols” (“Literary Devices.” SuperSummary) In “The Blue Hotel,” characters are predominantly referred to by their “type”: the Easterner, the Swede, the cowboy, the bartender, the gambler, and Scully, who is called the “proprietor” and the “Irishman” at various points. These archetypes refer to profession or geographic/ethnic origin, evoking certain ideas about each figure, even amongst the characters themselves. Yet Crane also invites readers to view these types with skepticism. The Easterner, for example, is introduced as a “little silent man from the East, who didn’t look it, and didn’t announce it” (363). Later, the gambler is such a just and moral man that “a scrutiny of the group [he sat with] would not have enabled an observer to pick the gambler from the men of more reputable pursuits” (388). These two ill-fitting archetypes bookend the story, reminding the reader that they can’t necessarily trust their assumptions about the characters.