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Essays About the American Civil War
Essay prompts for the red badge of courage
Essay prompts for the red badge of courage
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Recommended: Essays About the American Civil War
The Red Badge of Courage The Red Badge of Courage, by Steven Crane, has been considered one of the greatest war novels of all time. It is a story that realistically depicts the American Civil War through the eyes of Henry Fleming, an ordinary farm boy who decides to become a soldier. Henry is very determined to become a hero, and the story tells Henrys voyage from being a young coward to becoming a brave man. This voyage is the classic trip from innocence to experience. To begin, the story starts out with a huge debate between the soldiers. One boy had heard a rumor that the regiment would be moving on to fight a battle the next day. Some of the soldiers agree with this boy. Others think that their regiment will never go into a real battle. While watching this argument, Henry, the protagonist, decides that he would rather go lay down and think rather then take part in the heated argument between the soldiers. Henry, a simple farm boy, is rather excited when he hears the rumor that they will be fighting soon. It had always been a dream of his to fight in a war, and become a hero. Now his dream was coming true. Henry begins to think about what life was like before he entered the army, and remembers some stories of war he has heard from old veterans. This flashback is very effective in showing how his previous experiences have affected his thoughts on war now. It is very clear that he is afraid that he will not be able to withstand the pressures of a war. He keeps telling himself that if he wants to become a hero and realizes he can not run away. He must stick out the battle with the rest of his fellow soldiers. While marching along, Henry sees the first corpse he has ever seen. He shows sorry for the man because the dead man had died in such poor conditions. The souls of his shoes were worn bare. When Henry sees the corpse, he begins to wonder if his generals actually know what they are doing. He thinks that the generals are leading him right into a trap and right into the middle of the enemy, the rebels. Henry deals with his fear of battle by acting calm and confident. He acts as if he has been in a thousand battles, and complains about the walking. It shows one of Henry’s defense mechanisms and how he can use his arrogance to hide his innocence. Regiment 304 moves on to battle the next day. Henry is getting very scared, but is too ... ... middle of paper ... ...hey are going to be fighting is going to be very tough, and the general is looking for spare regiment. The leader feels that there is no way Regiment 304 will survive the battle alone, and calls the soldiers ‘mule drivers’, thinking that they are slow, and rather stupid. When Henry and Tom hear this, they are very upset. They are determined to fight as hard as they can, and with all their heart and souls. Henry and Tom prove themselves well in the battle. They steal the confederate flag, and are both brave enough to go out on the field without weapons. After the regiment retreats, the general recognizes both soldiers as extremely brave, and comment that they are fit to be generals themselves. This final action is what finalizes the movement from innocence to experience for Henry and Tom. They went into the war as little boys, and now they are moving on as men. They have both earned their red badges of courage, as well as the hero status they had dreamed of obtaining forever. In conclusion, The Red Badge of Courage is a great novel and I hope you will take the time to read it. But, if The Red Badge of Courage is not for you, Steven Crane has many more great novels
In The Red Badge of Courage, Henry Fleming was drawn to enlist by his boyhood dreams. His highly romanticized notion of war was eclectic, borrowing from various classical and medieval sources. Nevertheless, his exalted, almost deified, conception of the life of a soldier at rest and in combat began to deflate before the even the ink had dried on his enlistment signature. Soon the army ceased to possess any personal characteristics Henry had once envisioned, becoming an unthinking, dispas...
Henry is worried about how he will do in this first battle. He isn't. sure if he will run or not, and he is scared that he might. He doesn't. want to look like a fool and run, but he is also scared of getting killed.
Crane, Stephen. The Red Badge of Courage. United States of America, Chatham River Press, 1984. Print.
For example, Henry’s actions in the second battle convey his initial cowardice. In response to the enemy coming back to fight, Henry “ran like blind man” (Crane 57). Henry’s actions illustrate his cowardice since he is afraid to stay and fight and flees instead. However, as Henry matures throughout the novel, he learns to control his fears and show courage through his fighting. For instance, in the battle after Henry rejoins the regiment, Henry “had not deemed it possible that his army could that day succeed, and from this he felt the ability to fight harder” (Crane 133). Henry portrays bravery in this battle, since he still fights with all of his strength, when he believes the enemy would win. Henry’s change from cowardice to bravery is conveyed through his act of running away from battle, to fighting courageously in
In the Red Badge of Courage, the protagonist Henry, is a young boy who yearns to be a Great War hero, even though he has never experienced war himself. Anxious for battle, Henry wonders if he truly is courageous, and stories of soldiers running make him uncomfortable. He struggles with his fantasies of courage and glory, and the truth that he is about to experience. He ends up running away in his second battle. Henry is somewhat nave, he dreams of glory, but doesn't think much of the duty that follows.
“The Red Badge of Courage” was written by Stephen Crane in 1985 as a fictional tale of a soldier of the Civil War. With its accurate depictions, readers were led to believe that Crane had at one time been a soldier. This was however not the case. Crane has a unique way of using themes and symbols in “The Red badge of Courage” to relay a very realistic portrayal of war.
saying that they will soon move into battle. Once they do, the regiment starts to hear the distant sounds of the battlefront. It is Henry’s first battle and he is terrified. He asks his friend, Jim Conklin, if he would run away from the fight. Jim tells Henry that if the regiment runs, then he will run but if they stay, then he will stay and fight by their side. The regiment finally gets to the battle and starts to fight. After, Henry is proud and cannot believe that he survived his first encounter. After a short nap, Henry wakes ...
Author Stephen Crane attended many schools through out his life, but writing came to be his profession. The Red Badge of Courage, Crane’s most successful novel, was considered one of the first forms of realistic war fiction written on the Civil War. Some critics say that the unknown battle in Chancellorsville influenced Crane to write this novel. Through out the novel Crane’s shows how Henry Fleming transformed from a cowardly teenage recruit to a hero of war. This novel proved that any soldier, whether he is a sergeant or private, can pull through at the right moment, and be seen as a hero.
With the knowledge of his past mistakes, Henry goes into battle without thinking about the past and fights heroically. After a general makes a derogatory remark about Henry and his comrades, it reveals Henry’s change of attitude. He accepts the comment without rebellion and fights with courage. Because of the success of fighting bravely, Henry has the self-esteem to deal with his mistakes as an adult. As a mature person he can learn from his mistakes.
With Jim and Wilson by his side, Henry and his men with different outlooks on the war will fight and be the ideal team. Being the youngest of three men Henry desires honor along with a high reputation and will let nothing stand in his way. Jim was pragmatized about war. If the other soldier's were going to fight he was going to fight with them. Being classified as the "Loud soldier" and transitioning to a more mature man, Wilson undergoes many trials. These hardships show him the true meaning of life and how insignificant his life when there are other lives in the mix. As war wages on these men will fight for their own personal cause's and together will strive for a victory.
What made Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage become an unforgettable original surpassing other war novels is its depiction of the cruelty of the battlefield through the young soldier’s eyes. During the story’s timeline, Henry undergoes a subtle change in his attitude towards war. Starting as being self-centered and delusional,the youth becomes doubtful of his own self as well as his perceptions of war, afterwards finally matures into a man. This change has contributed greatly to the message of war which the novel conveys.
Having read of marches, sieges, conflicts, and the exploits of Greek warriors, and, as well, longing to see such, Henry enlisted into the Union army, against the wishes of his mother. Before his departure, Mrs. Fleming warned Henry, "...you must never do no shirking, child, on my account. If so be a time comes when yeh have to be kilt or do a mean thing, why, Henry, don't think of anything `cept what's right..." Henry carried with himself this counsel throughout his enlistment, resulting in his questioning himself on his bravery. As a sign of Henry's maturation, he began to analyze his character whilst marching, while receiving comments from his brethren of courage in the face of all adversity, as well as their fears ...
...ther battle begins, but this time, Henry is prepared to fight. Henry's fighting tactics are extremely wild and is afterwards is congratulated by his lieutenant for a job well done. However,between battles, Henry and Wilson (his fellow soldier) overhear a general referring to their regiment as "mule drivers" and preparing to sacrifice them at the front line in the next battle (Crane Chapter 18). Henry accepted this challenge and thinks of it as an obstacle he desires to overcome. When the next battle starts, he and Wilson see the Union flag beginning fall. They both sprint to retrieve the flag and lead their comrades to their next fight. After the battle ended, the officers praise their courageous action (Crane Chapter 21). In the novel’s final battle, Henry captures the Confederate flag as well and helps lead the Union regiment to victory (Crane Chapter 23).
They become part of the regiment proudly known as General Barlow’s Boys. The war turned out to be nothing like they expected. All ...
In the first part of the novel, Henry is a youth that is very inexperienced. His motives were impure. He was a very selfish and self-serving character. He enters the war not for the basis of serving his country, but for the attainment of glory and prestige. Henry wants to be a hero. This represents the natural human characteristic of selfishness. Humans have a want and a need to satisfy themselves. This was Henry's main motive throughout the first part of the novel. On more than one occasion Henry is resolved to that natural selfishness of human beings. After Henry realizes that the attainment of glory and heroism has a price on it. That price is by wounds or worse yet, death. Henry then becomes self-serving in the fact that he wants to survive for himself, not the Union army. There is many a time when Henry wants to justify his natural fear of death. He is at a point where he is questioning deserting the battle; in order to justify this, he asks Jim, the tall soldier, if he would run. Jim declared that he'd thought about it. Surely, thought Henry, if his companion ran, it would be alright if he himself ran. During the battle, when Henry actually did take flight, he justified this selfish deed—selfish in the fact that it did not help his regiment hold the Rebs—by natural instinct. He proclaimed to himself that if a squirrel took flight when a rock was thrown at it, it was alright that he ran when his life was on the line.