Crane's Use of Ironic Symbolism in "" Stephen Crane's "," as well as his other Western stories, owe much to Mark Twain's approach to the West. According to Eric Solomon, "both authors…used humor to comment on the flaws of traditional fictional processes" (237). While employing parody of the Western literary tradition, Crane also uses realism to depict the influence of the East on the West. In "," Stephen Crane uses symbolism to develop his study of the changes effected on the West and the roles of its inhabitants by the encroachment of e ....