Stephen Crane’s Dr. Trescott
Stephen Crane was an American author who, before his death at age 28, published countless essays, novels, and poetry. Crane’s most famous piece of literature is The Red Badge of Courage (1895), which was a novel about the Civil War, which he wrote without any battle experience. Crane’s involvement in war coverage continued on, as he became a foreign war correspondent, and he wrote about The Spanish-American War in Cuba, where, en route, he survived the sinking of his ship, and while there, witnessed several battles, including the battle of San Juan Hill. However much Crane accomplished during his short life, his legacy was not recognized until years after his death. Twenty years after his death in 1900, he was nearly forgotten, and it wasn’t until 1921 when his work came to the attention of scholars. Crane’s work had a great effect on other authors such as Joseph Conrad and Ernest Hemingway. What Crane had contributed to literature lived on despite his tragic death.
Great authors often create a legacy for themselves, but sometimes, not only are the authors themselves remembered, but certain characters they create live on with them. These timeless characters sometimes become the icon of the author’s legacy. J.R.R Tolkien’s Gandalf, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, and Bram Stoker’s Dracula are just a few of society’s favorite characters. But why are certain characters so important in literature? Is it that they seem to be a primary source to express a message? For Stephen Crane, that piece of work is the character Dr. Trescott, as his unconventional actions triggered dispute in his town and allowed readers to question what was going on in America during the late 19th century. Dr. Trescott seems to be a mouthpiece for Crane’s ideas about his time period, and seems to offer possible solutions for them. During the time The Monster was being written, Stephen Crane was living in an America that was segregated by race, when human interaction revolved around the color of your skin. But who was Dr. Trescott? What role did he play in Crane’s stories, how did Trescott convey the problems of the late 1800s using his personality, and was he able to solve any of the problems?
Before we look at Dr. Trescott, we must first study the man who created him: Stephen Crane. As Crane entered the world of literature as a young man, H. E. Bates, a 19th century English novelist, viewed him as “an artist who was really not conscious at all. He arrived … fully equipped. He had no need to improve,” and seemed perfect. However, the idea that Crane’s work is to be credited to his intelligence alone contradicts the fundamental principle that every writer is first dependent on his time period and traditions and only moves on to create his own work over time. Crane seemed to be on his own path right from the start, and like Dr. Trescott, was a man who didn’t care for what the public expected, but acted independently.
Dr. Trescott was first introduced in The Monster, a story set in the fictional town of Whilomville, New York, which was published in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine in August, 1898, less than two years before Crane’s death. The story features a black stable hand, Henry Johnson, who because of his race, was socially ostracized after his face is burnt beyond social tolerance. However, Dr. Trescott helped him despite his race and was willing to protect him when no one else was. Crane also wrote 13 short stories in what is now known as a short-story cycle, that were set in the same town as The Monster, which were published after his death. These short stories, The Whilomville Stories also featured Dr. Trescott and his son Jimmie. In The Whilomville Stories, the small town of Whilomville is where, as James Nagel puts it, multiple “complex psychological conflicts into the world of childhood” were set.
During the time Crane wrote The Monster, 175 African Americans were being lynched every year. Though the Civil War had recently finished, racism and hate towards the black community continued on up until the 1960s, and some say, even persist today. Crane’s writing style, which was influenced by Kipling, was a style that tried to expose real world problems. In Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, as well as in the short story, “The Dark Brown Dog”, Crane exposes poverty and alcoholism, raising awareness. Likewise, Crane tried to use The Monster to alert people that even though the war was over, racial hatred was still in America, still gripping social consciousness.
In The Monster, Trescott is “confronted with the most wrenching decision of his life, whether to continue to treat the ‘monster’ at the cost of social ostracism or to abandon him at the price of moral conscience.” At the time, most would easily abandon Johnson, as he was black, but Dr. Trescott decided to “meet his moral obligations at the risk of his public stature gives this story an ethical substance” (Nagel). The best example is perhaps the end of Chapter 8, when Trescott saves Jimmy from the fire and is barely conscious, yet still shouts that he has to go back in to save Johnson. He has to fight off firefighters to enter the house. “These cries penetrated to the sleepy senses of Trescott, and he struggled with his captors, swearing unknown to him and to them, all the deep blasphemies of his medical-student days. He arose to his feet and went again toward the door of the laboratory. They endeavored to restrain him, although they were much affrighted at him.”
Dr. Trescott looked beyond Henry’s physical state and into his character. Trescott knew that Henry is a man “who relates to the boy [Jimmie Trescott] with genuine insight and sensitivity, commiserating with him about the doctor’s moods, playing surrogate father or sympathetic friend as the situation warrants” (Nagel). Dr. Trescott “cares for Henry with total resolve, even building a room for him in [a] restored house, oblivious to the frequent cries that Henry has been turned into a hideous monster.” William Dean Howells, nicknamed the “dean of American letters” in the 19th century, (1837-1920), considered The Monster to be one of the best longer short stories (or novella) ever written by an American author. It is primarily because of how The Monster is at first, “a children’s tale”, then becomes a “grim social satire”, and finally an “ambitious study of ethical responsibility” and a “painful examination of race in America” (Nagel). It is thanks to Crane’s Dr. Trescott that The Monster was able to so effectively convey all these messages.
A barrier of post-civil war prejudice symbolized in The Monster is the door to Trescott’s house, that was “fastened with a bolt and lock”. This, a very strong object blocking the whites, is represented by Trescott who was safely on the outside, apart from the blacks, represented by Johnson, stuck in a burning house. No white man but Trescott chose to help. He knocks down the prejudice barrier and rushes into the house aiming to save Johnson, knowing that his life is just as valuable as anyone else’s. Stephen Crane effectively uses Trescott as a tool to tell American society that being prejudiced towards African Americans has horrific effects: Henry is stuck in a burning house where his face is burning off, a gruesome sacrifice to save a white child.
However heroic Trescott’s acts of valor were, they were still not nearly enough to change Whilomville’s disgust towards African Americans. Trescott’s decision to value Henry’s life cost his reputation. Shortly after the event, most of Whilomville’s professional class turns against him, and the ostracism he received for doing what was right cost him his credibility as a doctor. The pinnacle of the ostracism is evident during the scene when Trescott treats Jake Winter. Trescott was so disrespected while at the Winter’s house, Crane describes the feeling as if “he had heard an utterly new challenge in the night of the jungle.” This phrase symbolizes the constant fight Trescott has to deal with after his decision to take care of Johnson. Nights in jungles are very difficult to survive in, and that mirrors Trescott’s situation in Whilomville. The maltreatment Trescott is receiving from Winter is the added challenge to his survival in the forest. Not only must he battle being ostracized, he must withstand insults.
Trescott is not just a man of equality, he has many other traits. I think Trescott’s most admirable trait is how caring he is. In The Monster, Trescott “was always asking news of the two [Jimmie and Henry] patients”. Trescott has an altruistic personality in his constant care for others. Trescott is also extremely loyal even in desperate times. When Judge Hagenthorpe is urging Trescott to get rid of Henry Johnson, Trescott responds: “What am I to do? He gave himself for — for Jimmie. What am I to do for him?” When Henry Johnson was captured by the police after terrorizing a birthday party, Trescott calmly told the officer: “I’ll come down and get him.” Trescott, however, is no pushover, and will stand up for himself, just as he did when he was at Winter’s house and tore “out the leaf [piece of paper]… he extended it to Winter as he moved toward the door. The latter shrunk against the wall. His head was hanging as he reached for the paper. This caused him to grasp air, and so Trescott simply let the paper flutter to the feet of the other man.” Winter had recently disrespected Trescott, and Trescott was not going to let himself be pushed around.
Dr. Trescott has very good moral sense. He not only knows what is right, but he also acts accordingly. Many people in the town sensed the injustice, but none of them actually followed through. Many people knew that African Americans should be equal, but none of them treated them equally: except for Trescott. Trescott knew that African Americans were equal, and he valued their lives. He valued them so much that he was even willing to sacrifice himself for them. Trescott’s caring and altruistic personality are added to his morality as he always did things for the benefit of others. Crane used Trescott as a character who defined how Americans should have acted during the late 1800s and this exemplar of conscience and right action will always be an icon for the works of Stephen Crane.
Sources:
The Complete Works of Stephen Crane: Prose and Poetry, Library of America, 1984
“The Origins of Stephen Crane’s Literary Creed.” James B. Colvert, University of Texas Press, 1955, pp. 179-188
“The American Short-Story Cycle and Stephen Crane’s Tales of Whilomville.” James Nagel, American Literary Realism, 1999, pp. 35-42.
“The Significance of Stephen Crane’s The Monster. James Nagel, American Literary Realism, 1999, pp. 48-57.