The Blue Hotel

“The Palace Hotel at Fort Romper was painted a light blue, a shade that is on the legs of a kind of heron, causing the bird to declare its position against any background. The Palace Hotel, then, was always screaming and howling in a way that made the dazzling winter landscape of Nebraska seem only a grey swampish hush.”

The opening lines of Crane’s story highlight the oddity of the titular blue hotel. Blue against the gray of the landscape, the hotel stands out against its surroundings, suggesting the inevitability that Crane plays with throughout the story; visitors to Romper cannot avoid the hotel any more than the Swede can (potentially) avoid his fate. Crane also personifies the hotel, describing it as “screaming and howling”—language that is often applied to extreme weather, like the blizzard that is happening throughout the story.

“I suppose there have been a good many men killed in this room.”

The Swede’s bizarre supposition introduces the first conflict of the story. Prior to this, the men were playing cards—not quite peacefully, but with only minor conflict due to competitiveness and gloating. Once the Swede suggests that murders have happened in the hotel, the rest of the group unites against his strange behavior (though Scully at first attempts to make peace). This line marks a shift from a relatively straightforward narrative (hearkening to Crane’s frequent Naturalism) to the highly emotional absurdism of Expressionism.