Settings, Characters, and Ideas in The Blue HotelThe story "The Blue Hotel" by Stephen Crane has inspired a lot of thought. This reflection concerns settings, characters and ideas. The characters he creates are very different from each other, as the comparisons between them show. The use of symbolism in the story allows us to imagine why the hotel is painted blue and we can wonder for long periods of time about the character of the Swede. These elements combined made this story very good. The settings of the story are a central point of Stephen Crane. He develops them very well and really makes them serve a purpose in the story. The blue color painted on the exterior of the hotel could symbolize its old age and the dark and dreary atmosphere that surrounds it. The hotel seems to be a microcosm as it is the focal point of all the characters in the story. The only place they interact with each other is inside the hotel and that's where the main points of the story take place. All the violent clashes took place in the hotel or around its grounds. The main fight between the Swede and Johnny takes place outside, in the freezing cold of the street. The hotel could possibly change the characters' way of thinking and make them really weird. This is demonstrated when Scully shows the Swede photos of her deceased family (269). What sane person would show someone who thinks they are going to be killed a photo of someone who was killed? These examples show how the settings are more important than the characters themselves. The characters are very strange in this story. It is very difficult to imagine how such a group could have been formed. The differences between men are great. The cowboy is the rugged and sinister type, while the oriental is very open and cheerful. Johnnie is not like his father, Scully. They seem to be each other's foils. The Swede is simply unique and in a class of his own. This is a classic case of a paranoid schizophrenic. You don't believe me? What would you say when he says, “I’m crazy, yes, but I know one thing” (267). What he knows is that he will be killed soon, very soon. The problem and/or question of whether or not the Swede would have been killed, whether Johnnie participated in this fight through his cheating or not, is easy to answer...