“The youth started up with a little cry when his eyes first swept over this motionless mass of men, thick-spread upon the ground, pallid, and in strange postures.”…
James M. Cox was an English professor at Dartmouth College in Hanover for 27 years and a visiting professor at Kenyon College, Texas A&M, Princeton University, Emory University, and the University of Virginia. He was also awarded the Jay B. Hubbell medal for his accomplishments in American literature. Based on this information, this source is reliable. This article,” The Red Badge of Courage: The Purity of War” by James Cox, highlighted the key elements of realism portrayed in The Red Badge of Courage. In the article Cox also talks about Cranes other pieces such as Maggie, a Girl of the Streets, The Scarlet Letter, Black Riders, and many more. In this article Cox says, “Crane extends realism down into the society of soldiers. They are invariably…
“Facing it” by Yusef Komunyakaa and “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen, are two powerful poems with the graphical life like images on the reality of war. It is apparent that the authors was a soldier who experienced some of the most gruesome images of World War I. In “Ducle et Decorum Est” Owen tells us about a personal experience in which he survived a chemical warfare attack. Although he survives, some of his fellow troops do not. As in “Facing It” Komunyakaa is also a soldier who has survived a war. Komunyakaa response to his war experience is deeply shaped by his visit to Lin’s memorial. Inspired by the monument, Komunyakaa confronts his conflicted feelings about Vietnam, its legacy, and even more broadly, the part race plays in America. Both author used imagery and symbolism as they wrote these poems. Owens describes the soldiers as being crippled, mentally and physically overcome by the weight of their experiences in the war. He compares the young men to “old beggars under sacks”, saying that war turns young men with a full life ahead of them, and optimistic views into beggars that have given up on life and believe that life is never going to get any better (lines 1 and 2). The imagery that he uses allows us to see how gruesome the war really was, and how it was not just something that was glorious and honorable. In the second stanza Owens continues to use similes to show imagery, while ecstasy usually means, an excessive amount of happiness, here it is used to describe how young me are shocked into trying to run for their lives from “Gas! (line1). As where Komunyakaa describes himself as a black person that hides in the darkness of that granite (line 1 and 2). Komuyakaa stands at the memorial realizing that is more that it appears; it is not just cold stone, but something he identifies with on a more deep and profound level. It is this deeper meaning that inspires his emotional response in lines 3-5. These Loading...Manning Page 3 lines show both his…
“The Red Badge of Courage requires a less restricted from of reference, for Solomon realizes that Crane was not directing his attention against the Cooke-Cable-George Eggleston celebration of heroism. Instead he found his real subject in the psychology of motivation under stress and anticipated a view of warfare which had become almost universal in our own country.”(web) There is not many books that have been published in the view of a young soldier from the civil war period, and this book gives the reader a glimpse inside of solider mind. “The youth, in his leapings, saw, as through a mist, a picture of four or five men stretched upon the ground or writhing upon their knees with bowed heads as if they had been stricken by bolts from the sky. Tottering among them was the rival color bearer, whom the youth saw had been bitten vitally by the bullets of the last formidable volley. He perceived this man fighting a last struggle, the struggle of one whose legs are grasped by demons. It was a ghastly battle. Over his face was the bleach of death, but set upon it was the dark and hard lines of desperate purpose. With this terrible grin of resolution he hugged his precious flag to him and was stumbling and staggering in his design to go the way that led to safety for it.” (book) Solomon really gives credit to Crane for writing his book in this fashion and credits this book one of Cranes best works. “Solomon has an acute sense for telling word and image, and without straining has revealed the complexity of texture in the best of Crane’s work.” (web) After reading the critics work I believe that Solomon wrote this because he agrees with Cranes prospective on how young boys grew into men in a time of war. They all start out scared and weak, but by the end they are strong and mighty. Solomon…
2. One passage that i found in the Red Badge of Courage that had much confusion would have to be in chapter 10. In this chapter, a young man keeps calling Henry the name Tom Jamison. Henry can obviously knows he is suffering from a head wound. These passages can be very different and similar. They are similar in the since of war, but are different in perspective and in detail. General Pleaston's passage makes me feel as if was really experiencing war. I believe this passage makes me feel this way because of the descriptive details the author uses. I also chose this passage because it was from real events. A passage that can offer a blow b blow description of events in battles would probably…
The number of dead in Vietnam was 58,000 and wounded is estimated to be around 300,000. Countless Vietnam veterans were psychologically scared, while other was embittered by poor treatment the public gave them when they came home. Regardless, whether the war was right or wrong, we should support our troops. After reading The Things They Carried and watching Forrest Gump, Full Metal Jacket, my perspective has changed considerably about the Vietnam War.…
Romanticism aimed to glorify and make-beautiful the tragedies of brutality and death. Typical literary accounts of the Civil War up until this time had taken a style of Romanticism, dignifying the nobility of war. Authors would speak little of the emotional trauma and the devastating damage generated by ruthless and barbaric bloodshed. Rather, the focus shifted to courage, valor, and the esteem earned by those who served in the war. Crane takes a shockingly different direction in his story, as well as in his depiction of war. He speaks of the cost of the experience being a loss of innocence. When a man witnesses death, decease, infections, amputations, and even goes so far as to take another man’s life, he no longer sees the world the same way. They lose their child-like nature. Crane achieves this theme by the use of Naturalism (Stephen Crane 1871-1900). The violence is graphic, and the death toll is high. It paints a truly deplorable scene of war. The protagonist of The Red Badge of Courage, Henry Flemming, struggles internally with cowardice and overcoming egoism. While Crane’s character is developing, the battle rages on. He grows under the adverse conditions of war, further showing the effect of intense conflict. Crane uses a detached approach narrative to present an honest image of the tragedy of war. His revolutionary account of the Civil War shocked and…
One of the many themes that can be found in The Red Badge of Courage, is the idea that Henry reaches a certain maturity by facing and dealing with the brutal realities of war. As the book begins we meet Henry, a young boy and soldier that fantasizes about battle and being a hero. It is by the end of the book that we see Henry’s character grow into a young man that has not only faced death, but found courage.…
From the first page, The Red Badge of Courage, the main character, Henry, has preconceived ideals of war, that lead him to believe that “it is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country.” Henry enlists in the service because of the “newspapers, the village gossip” and his own idealistic images about what war will be. Henry joins the war not because he believes in the war, and not because of some sense of family duty or country duty, he does it so he can come back after the war and be a hero among regular men. He wants the praise and accolades that one gets for doing such a great deed. Henry had a false sense of what war is really like because his lack of experience causes him to correlate real time war to epic ancient battles. He idealistically thinks that his first battle will be “one of those great affairs of the earth (6).” Henry desperately wants to follow in the footsteps of Ancient Greek heroes and become a hero himself. He lacks experience in war; he can only imagine what war is genuinely like. The Red Badge of Courage to Henry is a battle wound received in the war. Henry thinks that getting a wound during battle means that he had the courage to fight the war and in doing so, he received his own red badge of courage.…
In “The Red Badge of Courage” by Stephen Crane written in 1895 and set during the civil war, Crane presents a fiction novel on a young man named Henry wanting to become a U.S soldier who discovers the truth of war. He goes to war and figures out the hard way that war is not the place for him until he meets a man name Tall Soldier and that man he meets and looks up to doesn't make it. From that man dieing it shook Henry up and then Henry really thinks hard and figure that his live is on the line it is either die what he wanted to do or get his stuff together and get the business done so he has to take it serious. Henry retreats from the battle and he come upon a building like structure and inside was a body, the body of the Tall soldier.Henry…
Hafer said in the critical analysis, “Irony in The Red Badge of Courage”, “a badge of shame or absurdity.” The youth’s red badge is received by a fellow solider when the youth grabs him to find out information, which he would not have needed if he chose to stay fight; however, he finally obtained the “red badge of courage” he so desperately wanted, but in an ironic way because no courage is involved since he was not in battle. There is no honor to the badge when received liked that. When the youth returns his regiment by the end of the night he feels no true shame because he not worried that will suspect his desertions because of his injury. He is back to heroic thinking. Micheal Schneider said in his critical analysis, “Mythic Elements of Quest-Romance”, “When he imagines himself as a hero, he runs from the enemy charge; then reclaims his shattered self-esteem only through…his wound.” Henry goes though up’s and downs of confidence in ironic ways as he does the opposite of he thinks and feels heroic when he was…
This novel depicts the epic resilience of the characters as they avoid the social pressures of racism and their controversial environment. In To KIll a Mockingbird,Harper Lee uses indirect characterization of courage in different characters while also linking heroism to the characters.…
“Little souls who thirst for fight, these men were born to drill and die” (Crane 7-8). Stephen Crane’s poem acknowledges the fact that many soldiers in the war have fought for survival, dehumanized, and lost lives for their country. Many propose the idea that war is not necessary and that it is pointless. This is quite ironic since a great amount of people go to war even though they think that it is unnecessary. Generally, these battles can be prevented after all most people would say that war is a tragic thing and that it shouldn’t play such a big role in life. Author of an international bestselling novel All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque also portrays a similar purpose in his novel as Stephen Crane’s poem “War is Kind”. Remarque and Crane both want to convey a message of harmony by distinctly delineating the destructiveness, dehumanization, and the ridiculousness of war.…
When reading the Red Badge of Courage, it is necessary to understand the symbolism that Stephen Crane has created throughout the whole book. Without understanding the true intent of color use, this book loses a meaningful interpretation that is needed to truly understand the main character, his feelings and actions. Crane uses very distinct colors in his text to represent various elements that the main character, Henry or "the youth", is feeling along his adventure of enlisting into battle. Red, yellow and gray are the main color's Crane uses consistently in the majority of the chapters to describe Henry's inner conflicts and feelings. The color purple is mentioned very briefly but reflects Henry's feelings in a powerful manner. Certain colors dominate throughout the book and there is a change of domination as Henry matures into a real soldier.…
This passage is very significant to the reality of the soldiers in the Vietnam War and brings to life the setting of the entire novel. The soldiers were primarily teenagers and young men in their early twenties who had not yet had the chance to experience life. They soon had found themselves in the midst of an intense war with nothing but uncertainty and fear. They hated it and they loved the fear and adrenaline that ran through their skin and bones. It was a crucial part of their young lives that changed the way they would see their own world. In this passage it shows how the characters perceived the war as their feelings changed everyday, every hour, and even every minute. A strong message is presented through this passage as it brings forth the true raw emotion of the soldiers and the reality of war; which is a major theme throughout the novel.…