Strenuous lives: Stephen Crane, Theodore Roosevelt and the American 1890s

Strenuous Lives examines a kind of dialogue of the 1890s in which Theodore Roosevelt speaks as a prominent public figure of the time, the champion of imperialism and manifest-destiny, evolutionary progress, rugged individualism and clear moral purpose, while Crane emerges as a dissenting voice from the mainstream, detached from, and skeptical of the reckless heroics and self-assurance of Americans. Drawing on the experiences of their strenuous lives up to 1897---when the war in Cuba sent them on divergent paths---this study analyzes the writings of Roosevelt and Crane in a variety of arenas wherein the environment plays a crucial role. Ranging from hunting camps in the wilderness to the slums of New York City to the far reaches of the diminishing frontier, Crane presents these struggles in the naturalistic voice of realism, with a skeptic's interest in exposing the folly of the human ego. Roosevelt responds to such struggles as a practical idealist who believes in the triumph of good over evil, in self-determination and free enterprise, and in the essential rightness of American expansion. His writing celebrates the struggles of settlement, promotes a progressive vision for overcoming poverty, corruption and vice, and welcomes the adversity of war. While Crane revels in the vitality of the outdoors and admires the resolute honesty of struggling settlers, he is pessimistic about the harsh life he laid bare in the Bowery, struck by the indifferent and awesome powers of nature, and bitter about the foolish and destructive ego of man, especially in war. He paints a world of impotent and absurd action, wherein man is often controlled by his surroundings and deceived by his own self-importance. Crane ultimately emerges as a strong voice set against intellects like Roosevelt who envisioned a world of absolutes in race, class, war and nature, and whose faith in science and social policy assured them of the rightness of American causes. Ultimately, Roosevelt's great faith in a higher power guiding the destiny of America contrasts with Crane's determination to question the existence of God and, therefore, the basis of American optimism. Indeed, in his unconventional lifestyle, Crane challenged the moral precepts inherent in this genteel "age of Roosevelt," and helped shape the new view of life that would emerge in American modernism.