Stephen Crane
Stephen CraneStephen Crane was an American writer who wrote novels, short stories, poems, and plenty of journals. Crane’s technique of writing was based on realism, a technique that is able to explore within the character’s mind. His work has been said to mark the beginning of modern American Naturalism.
Stephen Crane was born on November 1, 1871 in Newark, New Jersey. (Sufrin pg.9) His father, Jonathan Crane, had decided he was going to name his child after his ancestor, Stephen Crane, who had signed the Declaration of Independence. Ironically enough, this man by the name of Stephen Crane had not signed the Declaration of Independence because he had left Philadelphia one week prior to it being signed. (Sufrin pg.10) Stephen Crane was the fourteenth child born to the Cranes’ whose family history was very important to the nation’s history. This family was among the first colonists of Massachusetts Bay. They helped found New Haven, Connecticut, New Wark, Elizabethtown, and Montclair.
Stephen’s father, Jonathan Crane, liked to write books on Methodist Doctrines and codes of conducts. He disliked dancing, smoking, card playing, drinking, singing, popular songs, and reading popular novels. His mother, Mary Helen Peck, came from a Methodist preaching family. She liked reform movements and religious articles. Crane’s parents left his upbringing in the hands of his older sister Agnes, who encouraged him to read and write. (Bloom pg.58) Since the family was very religious, they often moved from town to town. This did not allow Stephen to attend school. He received his education from his older brothers and sisters. In 1874 the family lived Bloomington, New Jersey. Two years later they moved to Paterson, New Jersey. When his father became a pastor of Cross Street Church, they moved again to Port Jervis, New York. Because Stephen was so attached to his family, he didn’t start formal school till the age of eight. During this time his father suffered a sudden and unexpected heart attack; he suffered his attack on February 16, 1880. Stephen had an experience at his father’s funeral that would stay in his mind for twenty years. His family remained in Port Jervis, and Crane continued going to school there. By the time he was a teenager he left the formal school. He attended a quasi-military academy where he gained some sense of a material life.
In 1890 Crane briefly attended Lafayette College in Pennsylvania. Shortly after he transferred to Syracuse University, where he was in residence for a little over a semester. The sport of baseball began interesting him more than his education did. He played with the Syracuse University baseball team as a catcher and shortstop. He wrote articles for the New York Tribune about college and city affairs. It was then that he wrote his first version of Maggie: A Girl...
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