As Scully and the Swede are upstairs, the men openly discuss the Swede’s misconception of the West. This brief conversation is the most explicit reference to the mythic West, which is a primary theme in this story as well as in “The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky.” The Easterner, whose experiences correlate most closely with the Swede’s, aptly perceives that the Swede is frightened because of his idea of how violent the West is. Johnny and the cowboy, however, are less perceptive of this fear. When the Easterner explains that the Swede has most likely read dime novels about the West that falsely promote its image as a place filled with violence and danger, this dialogue provides useful exposition to the reader. He confirms that the West is in fact not a dangerous place (nor are places farther west than Nebraska). Ironically, though the Easterner is correct, the Swede will end up dying due to violence, and not the violence that the Swede instigated in this section.
The description of the fight between Johnnie and the Swede is fairly impressionistic: “Occasionally a face, as if illuminated by a flash of light, would shine out, ghastly and marked with pink spots. A moment later, the men might have been known as shadows, if it were not for the involuntary utterance of oaths that came from them in whispers” (Crane 104). This is a notable feature in some of Crane’s works.
After the Swede wins the fight, Crane returns to the theme of the man’s isolation and separation from the other men. When the men first believe that Johnnie has won the fight, they “burst into a cheer that was like a chorus of triumphant soldiery” (Crane 105). However, in triumph, there “was a splendor of isolation in [the Swede’s] situation ... that mysterious and lonely figure, waiting” (Crane 105). This touches upon the importance of community in this and other short stories by Crane. Communities can either provide support to or ostracize individuals based on community mores or pre-existing relationships.