A Great Mistake

"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.