The Monster is an 1898 novella by American author Stephen Crane (1871–1900). The story takes place in the small, fictional town of Whilomville, New York. An African-American coachman named Henry Johnson, who is employed by the town's physician, Dr. Trescott, becomes horribly disfigured after he saves Trescott's son from a fire. When Henry is branded a "monster" by the town's residents, Trescott vows to shelter and care for him, resulting in his family's exclusion from the community. The novella reflects upon the 19th-century social divide and ethnic tensions in America.

The fictional town of Whilomville, which is used in 14 other Crane stories, was based on Port Jervis, New York, where Crane lived with his family for a few years during his youth. It is thought that he took inspiration from several local men who were similarly disfigured, although modern critics have made numerous connections between the story and the 1892 lynching in Port Jervis of an African-American man named Robert Lewis. A study of prejudice, fear, and isolation in a rather small town, the novella was first published in Harper's Magazine in August 1898. A year later, it was included in The Monster and Other Stories—the last collection of Crane's work to be published during his lifetime.

Written in a more exact and less dramatic style than two of his previous major works (Maggie: A Girl of the Streets and The Red Badge of Courage), The Monster differs from the other Whilomville stories in its scope and length. Its themes include the paradoxical study of monstrosity and deformity, as well as race and tolerance. While the novella and collection received mixed reviews from contemporary critics, The Monster is now considered one of Crane's best works.

Background and writing Crane began writing The Monster in June 1897 while living in Oxted, England with his longtime partner Cora Taylor.Wertheim (1994), p. 266 Despite his previous success—The Red Badge of Courage had gone through 14 printings in the United States and six in England—Crane was running out of money. To survive financially, he worked at a feverish pitch, writing prolifically for both the English and the American markets. He later remarked that he wrote The Monster "under the spur of great need", as he desperately required funds.Goldsby (2006), p. 6 In August of that year, Crane and Cora were injured in a carriage accident while visiting friend Harold Frederic and his mistress Kate Lyon in Homefield, Kenley; after a week of recuperation, they followed the couple on vacation to Ireland, where Crane finished the story.Wertheim (1994), p. 271

The Monster was Crane's first story to feature the fictional town of Whilomville; it would eventually serve as the setting of 14 stories, 13 of which would appear in the 1900 anthology Whilomville Stories.Nagel (Fall 1999), p. 36 The town was based on Port Jervis, New York, where the author lived from the age of six to eleven.Wertheim (1997), p. 369 Although Crane and his mother relocated to Asbury Park, New Jersey in 1880, until 1896 he frequently stayed with his older brother and Port Jervis resident William Howe Crane.Goldsbury (2006), p. 116 Crane admitted to his publishers that while he readily used Port Jervis as inspiration while writing The Monster, he was anxious to ensure that the residents of his previous hometown did not recognize themselves in the fictional Whilomville.Schaefer (1996), p. 236 While Crane biographer Thomas Beer claimed to trace the prototype of Henry Johnson to a Port Jervis teamster named Levi Hume,Wertheim (1997), p. 225 Crane's niece, Edna Crane Sidbury, believed the character and his disfigurement were influenced by a local waste collector whose face was damaged by cancer.Naito (2006), p. 36 In Black Frankenstein: The Making of an American Metaphor, author Elizabeth Young theorized that Crane may also have been inspired by popular freak show attractions such as Zip the Pinhead, whose real name was William Henry Johnson, and Joseph Merrick, the Elephant Man.Young (2008), p. 81 It is also possible that Crane found thematic inspiration in Henrik Ibsen's An Enemy of the People; although first published in 1882, the play—about a physician who finds himself ostracized by his community—first became popular in the United States in the mid-1890s.Nagel (Spring 1999), p. 50

Modern critics have connected the novella's themes of racial division to a violent episode in Port Jervis' history. On June 2, 1892, an African-American man named Robert Lewis was lynched for allegedly assaulting a local white woman.Goldsby (2006), p. 105 On his way to the Port Jervis jail, Lewis was set upon by a mob of several hundred white men who dragged him through the town, beat him and hanged him from a tree. William Howe Crane lived within sight of where the lynching took place and was one of the few men, together with the chief of police, who attempted to intervene.Naito (2006), p. 37 Although Stephen Crane was not present, there were detailed accounts published in both the Port Jervis Gazette and the New-York Tribune, and Crane contributed to the Tribune at the time. The Gazette marked the day of Lewis' lynching as "one of the most disgraceful scenes that was ever enacted in Port Jervis", and activist Ida B. Wells launched a campaign to investigate the murder as well as the widespread theory that Lewis was set up.Goldsby (2006), pp. 107–108 Of the 1,134 reported lynchings throughout the United States between 1882 and 1899, Lewis was the only black man to be lynched in New York.Wertheim (1997), p. 195Goldsby (2006), p. 111

Crane initially sent his manuscript of more than 21,000 words to McClure's, along with several other works including "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky", but it remained unpublished for nearly a year.Wertheim (1994), p. 277 After McClure's eventual rejection, The Monster appeared in the August 1898 issue of Harper's Magazine with illustrations by Peter Newell.Wertheim (1994), p. 333 A year later, it was published in the United States by Harper & Brothers Publishers in a collection titled The Monster and Other Stories, which included two other works by Crane, "The Blue Hotel" and "His New Mittens". The first British edition, which added an additional four stories, was published in 1901.Wertheim (1997), p. 228

Plot summary After being admonished by his father, Dr. Ned Trescott, for damaging a peony while playing in his family's yard, young Jimmie Trescott visits his family's coachman, Henry Johnson. Henry, who is described as "a very handsome negro", "known to be a light, a weight, and an eminence in the suburb of the town",Crane (1899), p. 6 is friendly toward Jimmie. Later that evening Henry dresses smartly and saunters through town—inciting catcalls from friends and ridicule from the local white men—on his way to call on the young Bella Farragut, who is extremely taken with him.

That same evening, a large crowd gathers in the park to hear a band play. Suddenly, the nearby factory whistle blows to alert the townspeople of a fire in the second district of the town; men gather hose-carts and head toward the blaze that is quickly spreading throughout Dr. Trescott's house. Mrs. Trescott is saved by a neighbor, but cannot locate Jimmie, who is trapped inside. Henry appears from the crowd and rushes into the house in search of the boy, finding him unharmed in his bedroom. Unable to retreat the way he came, Henry carries Jimmie, wrapped in a blanket, to the doctor's laboratory and the hidden stairway that leads outside. He discovers the fire has blocked this way out as well and collapses beside Dr. Trescott's desk. A row of nearby jars shatters from the heat, spilling molten chemicals upon Henry's upturned face.

Dr. Trescott returns home to find his house ablaze; after he is told by his hysterical wife that Jimmie is still inside, he rushes into the house by way of the laboratory's hidden passageway. He finds Jimmie still wrapped in the blanket and carries him outside. Hearing that Henry is inside the house, Dr. Trescott attempts to re-enter, but is held back. Another man goes into the house and returns with the badly burned "thing" that used to be Henry Johnson. The injured men and boy are taken to Judge Denning Hagenthorpe's house across the street to be treated, but while it is thought that Dr. Trescott and Jimmie will survive their injuries, Henry is pronounced as good as dead; he is mourned as a hero by the town.

Henry Johnson survives, however, under the watchful eye of Dr. Trescott, who treats the injured man out of gratitude for saving his son's life. Hagenthorpe, a leading figure in town, urges Trescott to let Henry die, stating that he "will hereafter be a monster, a perfect monster, and probably with an affected brain. No man can observe you as I have observed you and not know that it was a matter of conscience with you, but I am afraid, my friend, that it is one of the blunders of virtue."Crane (1899), p. 44 Ultimately Trescott decides to move Henry, who has sustained disfiguring injuries to his face and psyche, to a local Black household, but Henry's presence proves troubling for the family's well-being, and he is moved to another. One night Henry absconds, visiting various people around town and leaving terrified neighbors in his wake, including Bella Farragut, who he attempts to court as if no time has passed since they last met. Not welcome anywhere else, Henry is eventually moved to the carriage-house in the newly built Trescott home. Despite Dr. Trescott's protection, Henry is branded a monster by the townspeople, who avoid the Trescotts as a result. Although previously friendly to Henry, Jimmie now mocks him, daring his friends to approach the disfigured man. Once the leading doctor in Whilomville, Trescott's reputation suffers greatly, as does that of his wife, who no longer receives visitors.

Style

The story is told from the point of view of a selectively omniscient narrator who seemingly chooses whether or not to divulge plot points as they occur, causing "a pattern of expectation" on the part of the reader.Giles (1992), p. 52 Although the novella is separated into 24 chapters, some critics—among them Charles B. Ives, Thomas Gullason and Marston LeFrance—believe these chapters are further divided into two parts: chapters 1–9 lead up to Henry's injury, whereas chapters 10–24 map the town's response.Schaefer (1996), p. 258 Critic David Halliburton wrote in his 1989 book The Color of the Sky: A Study of Stephen Crane that The Monster displayed a more "chastened" and exact style than Crane's earlier works, which were often a mixture of clever bawdiness and epic dramatics—both of which are seen respectively in Maggie: A Girl of the Streets and The Red Badge of Courage.Halliburton (1989), pp. 2–3

Edwin H. Cady believed The Monster is the best indication of the writer Crane may have become had he lived longer, showcasing a style that is "technically proficient, controlled, and broadly insightful."Schaefer (1996), p. 256 The Monster relies heavily on Crane's signature use of imagery and symbolism.Wolford (1989), p. 49 Frequent images and metaphors dealing with sight appear several times in the story, especially in regard to the townspeople's lack of vision, both literally and morally. The townspeople are similarly depicted using imagery of either animals or machines, characterizing them as both bestial and mindless.Schaefer (1996), p. 260 Color imagery is also prevalent. For example, fire—both literal and symbolic—features prominently throughout the story.Schaefer (1996), p. 241 While critics as early as Edward Garnett in 1921 pointed to Crane's heavy use of irony in The Monster, other critics such as Michael D. Warner question whether Crane intended the story to be read as ironic, or if this is the result of the author's "oddly contradictory attitude toward his characters."Warner (1985), p. 76