“A Great Mistake,”
which is quite short, is an unexpected Stephen Crane jewel. Crane is best known
for three short stories, “The Open Boat,” thought by many to be the best short
story ever written, “The Blue Hotel,” and “The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky.”
Simply has recorded over ten more stories that deserve to be right up there
with the top three. As Simply says, this is not an NFL Power ranking, or a
compare and contrast assignment. This is your opportunity to enjoy many of
Crane’s other illuminating and moving works. “A Great Mistake” relates to a
common theme of coveting something out of reach, in this case on fruit cart,
when fruit was a far more expensive and unobtainable product than today. The
story paints the picture and sets the scene of the “babe,” to quote Crane’s
description, observing, dreaming, and scheming about seeing and getting fruit
off of the Italian’s fruit stand. The denouement is violent and non-violent at
the same time as the Italian “…whirled him (the babe) fiercely, and took from
the little fingers a lemon.” Another remarkable and underappreciated work by
Mr. Crane.
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