1. Sutton is asserting that fear is the motivation behind the action of the play. Both the Swede and the little Easterner are afraid, but their fears are different, and hence, how they act is also different. Sutton characterizes the Swede's fear as "primitive and obscure." Due to the nature of this fear, the Swede alienates himself from society. The little Easterner's fear is "more subtle and complicated." The Easterner realizes that man and the individual is inherently isolated from society. He seems to understand his relationship to society and for that reason he does not alienate himself from that society like the Swede.

Sutton sees both the Swede and the Easterner as "twin projections of the author's consciousness." By that, Sutton sees the primitive fear of the Swede as a characteristic of Stephen Crane, and he sees the sophisticated fear of the Easterner as a characteristic of Crane.

2. Cox believes that Crane was more of a symbolist than a naturalist meaning that he uses specific details to describe a "symbolic substructure."

Cox sees the stove as having the greatest symbolic significance in the story because it is at the center of the hotel, and Crane immediately points it out to the reader. The symbol represents man's inner nature. Therefore, man has a burning "aggression" at the center of his existence. Cox sees contrasting "white-red, fear-anger, and snow-fire" as a means of supporting this view of the stove and man. Because of the symbolic use fear and anger in the story as related to fire, Cox draws the conclusion that not only is man driven by aggression, but by an "elemental fear" also.

Cox sees that Crane symbolically defines man and his environment with the Blue Hotel and the outside blizzard respectively. The room with the stove in the story represents man's inner nature, and the storm outside is the environment. Cox sees Crane developing a dual conflict with these uses of symbols. Within man, there is a conflict between the motivating forces: fear and anger. The environment conflicts with man's inner nature as seen by the storm invading into the hotel each time the door opens. Crane supports his belief in these dual conflicts with use of a series of "ironic contrasts."

By examining the blizzard outside, Cox claims that wind represents fate or a force that seems to drive man towards the grave. The Swede is being moral by calling Johnnie on his cheating, and he ends up dead. Therefore, Cox says the wind is indifferent to "moral value," and the universe only points people towards death.

To support this view, Cox sees the game of cards as a symbol of life for Crane. When the easterner asks what is the reason for fighting over a game of cards, he is really asking what the purpose of life in terms of moral value.

In conclusion, Cox disagrees with the easterner's final thoughts about how every death is a result of indirect collaboration. Cox sees the Swede and his universe as completely doomed because of the way they are symbolically defined in the story. Therefore, Crane makes exclusive use of symbols to define his position on events in the stories, and hence, he is more a symbolist than a naturalist as Cox initially states.

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