The Life of Stephen Crane

Since we are learning about the history of Stephen Crane in class, I figured I would write about it. Stephen Crane was born on November 1, 1871, in Newark, New Jersey. He was born, the youngest of fourteen children, to Jonathan Crane, a Methodist minister. Unfortunately, Jonathan Crane died only nine years after Stephen was born, leaving the fourteen children in the care of his wife who was now about fifty-four years old. While Stephen's father was still alive, Stephen took an interest in writing. He began writing at the age of eight and began submitting his work to the New York Tribune at the age of sixteen.

Stephen began his educational career at the Hudson River Institute, a prepatory school in Claverack, New York. In 1890, his mother died and he was left with no parents. In September of that year, he enrolled at Lafayette College to study mining engineering. However, he left before the end of the first semester, but enrolled at Syracuse University in January of 1891. He did not succeed at this college either as he spent most of his time playing Varsity baseball. He failed five out of his six classes, his one class that he passed being English Literature. He left the University without finishing his degree.

After his failure in college, Stephen moved to New York where he lived a Bohemian lifestyle. He lived a carefree life, not worrying about income but allowing himself to freely drink and wander from place to place within New York. He worked as a free-lance writer for a short time, writing ads and newsletters. At this time he began studying for his first novel. He went to the slums of New York and studied the lifestyles of the unfortunate people. The result of his research was his book, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets. The story was a realist novel based on a girl forced into prostitution which led to her suicide.

After writing his first novel, Stephen went around the world as a reporter for war. Based on his study he began working on his second novel, The Red Badge of Courage. This novel was a great success and caused Stephen to win a reputation in the literary world. After this success he continued writing short stories that revealed the poor conditions and lifestyles that many people have to endure. He was known for his sympathy of the less fortunate.

Stephen eventually returned to Cuba to study and report on the Spanish-American War. However, while he was in Cuba he developed malaria which worsened his case of tuberculosis. He returned to England due to his health problems but died in Badenweiler, Germany, on June 5, 1900. He died at the young age of twenty-eight.