Heroism
Stephen Crane’s “A Mystery of Heroism” tells the story of infantryman Fred Collins, who crosses a raging battlefield to get a drink of water from a well. His quest to cross the field to get the water is framed within the story as a satirical hero’s journey: no one in his regiment is actually in desperate need of water, and Collins insists on making his dangerous journey to the well more out of annoyance…
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The Brutality of War
Stephen Crane’s “A Mystery of Heroism” depicts an unnamed battle in an unnamed war. The purpose of the war is never made clear, and the tactics or goals of the battle are similarly left muddy. The enemy army is remote and never appears in person. Collins’s regiment engages with that enemy only through shells and bullets. Meanwhile, the story often focuses on the terrible destruction of the battle: houses blow up, a meadow burns, soldiers…
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Absurdity and Futility in War
Stephen Crane’s “A Mystery of Heroism” follows Fred Collins, a soldier who gets goaded by his fellow infantrymen into crossing a dangerous battlefield to get water from a well, even though no one actually needs the water. Collins, then, leaves the safety of his regiment’s shelter and takes an absurd risk for a trivial goal. Collins eventually does succeed in retrieving a full bucket of water from the well and runs back across the…
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