“An Ominous Baby,” 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.” “An Ominous Baby” is perhaps the most
unusual of the other ten Crane stories Simply recorded. It deserves 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. The story is mythic with as “A
baby was wandering in a strange country” and meets up with another. The first
is tough guy type from “the poor district” who sees a “pretty child with fine
clothes playing with a toy.” The first asks to borrow it and is refused; the
tough baby gets upset, grabs the toy, and makes off with it, as “the vandal
turned and vanished down a dark side street as in a swallowing cavern.” The
pretty child will clearly get another. The tough guy baby has had to fled his
field of victory, and skulk away. This is one of Crane’s most bald and symbolic
works of class and economic battle and position. It reveals clearly the forces
of realism and naturalism that imbues his writing. Another remarkable and
underappreciated work by Mr. Crane.
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