Yellow Sky

In the mockery of a Western type story, Stephen Crane’s “The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky” has a simple story line with great meaning against inflexibility. With outlandish humor Crane takes the town of Yellow Sky and their marshal Jack Potter through the change of time, proving nothing can stay stagnant. “The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky” is an ironic comedic literary archetype.

The characters of Crane’s story closely resemble one’s found in an ironic comedy with no central character. Jack Potter plays the role of the Knight to the town of Yellow Sky. The bartender at the Weary Gentlemen’s saloon mentions that Potter is “the town marshal” and “he goes out and fights Scratchy when he gets on one of these tears.” However Jack’s knightly standing is not so appreciated by the fellows on the train back from San Antonio. Jack is actually pushed and “bullied” around yet he does not recognize any of it. Jack Potter is too much in love with his new wife, but not too much that he doesn’t realize what Yellow Sky is going to think about him not getting their approval to marry. This shows Jack as not only an ironic knight but also a young lover commonly found in literary comedies.

Scratchy Wilson seems to be the dragon. With the knight out o

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actually [inducing] her to marry him without consulting Yellow Sky. The kingdom of Yellow Sky is fearful of Scratchy as he looms in the streets calling for a fight with his “fire” in hand. Jack Potter refers to that community as a judgmental collective by “ . Scratchy expects Jack to have a gun on him and when he finds out in fact that Jack does not have what he had expected. With his fire drawn, Scratchy challenges Potter who has no shield or weapon to defend himself with. When the traveling salesman asks questions because he is unfamiliar with the strange practices of the town, the bartender tells him about the routine fights between Porter and Scratchy.

The plot of Crane’s story shows the type of social inclusion and birth of a new society seen in most comedy archetypes. What had been expected did not occur, so Scratchy turned around and the change of time walked into Yellow Sky. Scratchy and Jack surprise each other when Potter tries to sneak back into his house. The gentleman in the bar scurry with fear that Scratchy will fill the saloon with his carefully aimed bullets. The birth of the new society is born. Each character in this story also represents a mock version of the types of people each represents. The narrator gives a very sarcastic viewpoint when the drummer questions the strange tradition in the town of Yellow Sky that gives the impression of a stereotypical western town. ” Potter looks back at his decision as an “extraordinary crime” because he acted on “impulse” and had gone “headlong over all social hedges.

Approximate Word count = 930
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

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