Classic Book Reader
Cover of Active Service

Active Service

by Stephen Crane (1871–1900)

  • Free to read
  • 5 hours to read
  • 30 chapters
  • Reading level: 7th grade

"Active Service" by Stephen Crane is a novel written during the late 19th century. The book explores themes of love, conflict, and the complexities of human relationships, particularly through the character of Marjory Wainwright, who grapples with her feelings for Rufus Coleman, a man her father disapproves of due to his reckless nature and dubious profession. The narrative unfolds in a backdrop of academic life and societal expectations, presenting a rich landscape for the exploration of these themes. The opening of "Active Service" establishes a tense dynamic between Marjory Wainwright and her father, an elderly professor, as she reveals her desire to marry Rufus Coleman. The professor's vehement disapproval and arguments against Coleman's suitability as a husband create an emotionally charged atmosphere. Marjory's initial hesitance soon gives way to resolve as she faces her father's expectations. The conversation reveals deep familial ties and the struggle between parental control and youthful desires. The complexity of Marjory's emotions and the drama surrounding her engagement to Coleman is framed within the professor's scholarly environment, hinting at broader themes of societal norms versus personal happiness that will likely develop as the story progresses.

Read free now No app, no sign-up. Your place is saved automatically. Or download for your e-reader ↓
  • Fathers and daughters
  • Man-woman relationships
  • Greece

Read the opening

Chapter I

MARJORY walked pensively along the hall. In the cool shadows made by the palms on the window ledge, her face wore the expression of thoughtful melancholy expected on the faces of the devotees who pace in cloistered gloom. She halted before a door at the end of the hall and laid her hand on the knob. She stood hesitating, her head bowed. It was evident that this mission was to require great fortitude.

At last she opened the door. " Father," she began at once. There was disclosed an elderly, narrow-faced man seated at a large table and surrounded by manuscripts and books. The sunlight flowing through curtains of Turkey red fell sanguinely upon the bust of dead-eyed Pericles on the mantle. A little clock was ticking, hidden somewhere among the countless leaves of writing, the maps and broad heavy tomes that swarmed upon the table.

Her father looked up quickly with an ogreish scowl.

Go away! " he cried in a rage. " Go away. Go away. Get out " " He seemed on the point of arising to eject the visitor. It was plain to her that he had been interrupted in the writing of one of his sentences, ponderous, solemn and endless, in which wandered multitudes of homeless and friendless prepositions, adjectives looking for a parent, and quarrelling nouns, sentences which no longer symbolised the languageform of thought but which had about them a quaint aroma from the dens of long-dead scholars. " Get out," snarled the professor.

Keep reading Active Service →

Contents

Show all 30 chapters
  1. Chapter I
  2. Chapter II
  3. Chapter III
  4. Chapter IV
  5. Chapter V
  6. Chapter VI
  7. Chapter VII
  8. Chapter VIII
  9. Chapter IX
  10. Chapter X
  11. Chapter XI
  12. Chapter XII
  13. Chapter XIII
  14. Chapter XIV
  15. Chapter XV
  16. Chapter XVI: " GOOD God!" said Coleman. "You don't Mean-"
  17. Chapter XVII
  18. Chapter XVIII
  19. Chapter XIX
  20. Chapter XX
  21. Chapter XXI
  22. Chapter XXII
  23. Chapter XXIII
  24. Chapter XXIV
  25. Chapter XXV
  26. Chapter XXVI
  27. Chapter Xxvil
  28. Chapter XXVIII
  29. Chapter XXIX
  30. Chapter XXX

Download for your e-reader

Files are provided by Project Gutenberg. On a Kindle, the simplest route is to send the EPUB with Amazon’s Send to Kindle. Downloaded copies don’t sync with your place on Classic Book Reader.

About this edition

This free edition of Active Service by Stephen Crane comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #2364, released 2000-10-01. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Novels, American Literature.

Summary provided by Project Gutenberg (automatically generated).

More by Stephen Crane