Today i'd like to take a look at The Monster, a story that i'd say ranks comfortably as Crane's best Whilomville tale & in the top ten of his overall short stories. The complete
text of The Monster can be found here.
Henry Johnson works as stable minder for the Trescott family, and in his personal life is a well-respected man (a dandy) in the black community. One night there is a fire at the Trescott home and Henry, second man on the scene, rushes into the burning house to save the young boy Jimmie. Henry carries the boy downstairs but they become trapped in Dr. Trescott's laboratory. Trescott kicks the door down from outside and rescues his son, who is ok due to having been wrapped in a blanket and dropped near the window by Henry. Another man rushes inside to drag Henry out of the lab, but by this time he's been severely burned by fire and flaming chemicals spilling onto his head.
Dr. Trescott manages to keep Henry alive but he's disfigured, described as having no face. He's also gone insane somehow, which is not explained by Crane in what is perhaps the story's main weakness. Did the shock of his mangled mug cause him to snap like the Joker? This seems likely considering Crane portrayed Henry as someone who took excessive pride in his appearance. However, in the post-fire Henry we see no hint of self-awareness, in fact he'll escape to stroll about the town peering in at kids and calling at his girlfriend's house as if nothing is wrong.
Immediately after the fire Henry is hidden away at a neighbor's house, and the newspaper is allowed to print his obituary. The neighbor, Judge Hagenthorpe, is the first one to question the wisdom & morality of keeping Henry alive in such a pathetic state, but Dr. Trescott points out that Henry saved his son's life. The judge of course realizes this and delivers one of the best lines of the story, "It is hard for a man to know what to do."
As he recovers Henry is shifted to the home of Mr. Williams, a former friend of his. Trescott is paying Williams $5 a week to board Henry, but due to his disfigurement and insane rantings, Henry is kept locked in a room by the terrorized Williams family. One night Henry escapes and wanders about the town, peering in the window where a childrens' party is taking place, and scaring the little Winters girl. He then calls on his girlfriend and her mother in "Watermelon Alley," sending them both running in fear. Finally he startles an Irish woman and is chased by a mob, only to escape until he's rounded up by the police early in the morning.
Dr. Trescott is summoned to collect Henry from jail, advised to bring a mask or a veil to hide Henry's face from onlookers. After the escape the entire town becomes upset with Dr. Trescott for keeping such a "monster" alive and in their vicinity. The social fallout is such that Trescott loses most of his clients and becomes the least-popular doctor in town. The Judge and several prominent businessmen, acting out of concern for Trescott's status, advise him to send Henry to live far away from the town, suggesting a remote farm or a public institution. But the doctor refuses to do so, instead keeping Henry under his own roof.
In the final scene his wife, Grace, is weeping due to having only received one visitor for her weekly social. Trescott counts 15 unfilled tea cups that had been set out on the table. This could be the saddest display of the story, and we're left wondering if Trescott will give in and discharge Henry for the sake of his family.
Crane does an excellent job of portraying a universal reaction to the disfigured "monster." Whites, blacks, young, old, rich, poor, women, men, and authority figures all react poorly to Henry despite knowing his tragic & heroic history. In fact the boy he saved from the fire, Jimmie, even leads his friends in tormenting Henry, his face now hidden by a veil. Only Dr. Trescott stays loyal to the man who saved his son, and it's questionable whether the doctor has done Henry the greatest disservice of all, by nursing him back to health despite his dreadful state.
One thing to note is Crane does hint that the town's women are to blame for the adverse reaction to Henry and Dr. Trescott, in fact he has one of the "prominent" town leaders state this twice in private consultation with the doctor. Crane also shows a lengthy gossip session done by women, and a mother calling her child away from playing in the Trescott yard. Yet the men are shown just as guilty in the social mess, with Mr. Winter, father of the little girl frightened by Henry, acting as top enemy against Trescott. A common undercurrent in Crane's works, i think, is to hint that women are to blame for various episodes of tragichaos as the underlying spark, yet it is the male characters who actually commit the main offensive actions in his stories, with the women portrayed quite naturally or even admirably. Perhaps Crane is dangling them as a red herring for the reader who'll want an easy explanation. Yet who of any earthly experience can't recognize the power & influence of women in all things social?
In only one sense has The Monster, first published in 1898, failed to age well. This is the shock the modern reader will experience from the old racial stereotypes employed against some of the black characters, their exaggerated dialog, and the outright racism of some of the white characters. Yet Crane makes the latter eventually feel shame or look foolish, as the man who speculates that Henry got tired and knocked over a lamp, starting the fire, only to be rescued by Dr. Trescott. In reality a black man is hero of the story, a white man is the only one loyal to him, and black and white society react in exactly the same way to the "monster."
When it comes to the social stigma of disfigurement, the story is especially relevant today, as face transplants have been in the news. Victims of fire, car accident, shootings, animal maulings, acid attacks, and birth defects all suffer, and only now is there any hope that our relatively primitive medical capabilities can help them lead normal lives. So Henry Johnson is hardly a character merely in fiction, he could be any one of us. I have seen two people in public who could be described as having "no face," and it is virtually impossible not to stare a beat too long at first, or look away quick then glance back at them, wondering what happened. It is a fright instinct that humans have and like it or not we rely on cursory superficial data before the more intelligent forces kick in. Thus, a wounded human being could very easily become a "monster," and disrupt an entire town's sense of peace.
