Use Of Imagery In The Red Badge Of Courage

1492 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Red badge of courage literary criticism

Crane's Novella
(An analysis of Stephen Crane's Literature) Stephen Crane wrote two stories about war they are An Episode of War and The Red Badge of Courage. The novella The Red Badge of Courage can be read at many levels ranging from middle school to college level. Since these writings can be read at many different levels the language Crane uses has to be difficult, but understandable. The reader can tell how good the writer is by the level of reading and understanding that they can see the author is offering. For instance a reader in middle school may say that The Red Badge of Courage is just about war, but a person that is getting he or she's PHD they will see it in more depth than just war. Anyone can write a story, but only certain individuals …show more content…

Imagery is one thing that is hard to put into words when persons are trying to write literature. It is hard to capture the image you are trying to present. In The Red Badge of Courage imagery is one of the most important parts of this novella. If imagery wasn't present this story would be worthless. If the reader can't produce and image in his or her mind then the story will mean nothing to them. This is because they can't produce a personal connection to the story itself. A writer puts it plainly, “Descriptive writing is writing which utilizes imagery, or word pictures, to more fully engage the reader” (Hubpages). This quote shows that you are not a descriptive writer if you don't use imagery. Imagery if nothing else helps tell the story by itself. It puts the reader in the main characters spot. He or she can imagine what it is like in the character's life. In The Red Badge of Courage Henry is the main character. The reader is trying to find a connection with him. A good place to do that is in this quote from the novella, “The youth thought of the village street at home before the arrival of the circus parade on a day in the spring.” This quote paints a picture in the reader's mind of what his street looked

Show More
Related

  • Stephen Crane and Walt Whitman: The Natural and the Language of Social Protest

    1813 Words  | 4 Pages

    Though in his short life Stephen Crane was never a soldier, his novel The Red Badge of Courage was commended by Civil War veterans as well as veterans from more recent wars not only for its historical accuracy but its ability to capture the psychological evolution of those on the field of battle (Heizberg xvi). Walt Whitman, on the other hand, served as a field medic during the Civil War. He was exposed perhaps to the most gruesome aspect of the war on a daily basis: the primitive medical techniques, the wounded, the diseased, the dying and the dead. Out of his experiences grew a collection of poems, "Drum Taps" , describing the horrors he had witnessed and that America suffered. As literary artists, a wide chasm of structure and style separates Crane and Whitman. The common cultural experience, the heritage of the Civil War connects them, throwing a bridge across the darkness, allowing them, unilaterally, to dispel notions of glorious battles and heroic honorable deaths. By examining Crane's Henry Fleming and the wound dresser from 'Whitman's poem of the same name, both fundamental literary differences and essential thematic consistencies emerge.

    Read More

  • The Use Of Imagery In Imaginative Writing By Janet Burroway

    1046 Words  | 3 Pages

    The ability to make the reader immersed in the story and the main character is the best thing to have when writing a piece. It helps the reader decide whether to keep reading or not. This ability is known as imagery. Imagery is writing with metaphors and the five sense, which creates a scene for the reader. Imagery is basically the way the author shows the reader what the main character or narrator is seeing. Janet Burroway, author of “Imaginative Writing”, which is a book about writing and the components of it, states that Image is, “An image is a word or series of words that evokes one or more of the five senses.” (Burroway, 15) Imagery is very important and good authors know how to use it to add more meaning and power to their literature.

    Read More

  • The Red Badge of Courage and The Blue Hotel

    576 Words  | 2 Pages

    Stephen Crane firmly cemented himself in the canon of American Romanticism with the success of works such as The Red Badge of Courage and "The Blue Hotel." His writing served to probe the fundamental depths of the genre while enumerating on the themes vital to the movement's aesthetic. Such topics as heartfelt reverence for the beauty and ferocity of nature, the general exaltation of emotion over reason and senses over intellect, self-examination of personality and its moods and mental possibilities, a preoccupation with genius and the heroic archetype in general, a focus on passions and inner struggles, and an emphasis on imagination as a gateway to transcendence, as well as a predilection for the exotic, the remote, the mysterious, and folk culture are all characteristic of his stories.

    Read More

  • Imagery in Ragged Dick

    1324 Words  | 3 Pages

    Imagery plays a big part in the success of a novel. Different writers have different styles. The good thing about imagery is it makes room for the reader to put things together. The reader is allowed to interpret the story the way that they like. "Ragged Dick", Horatio Alger, Jr. did a great thing with imagery. While reading the novel readers had a change to envision many things that were mentioned in each chapter. Algar interconnected the appearances of the main character to his living arrangement. He also connected these things with the character's attitude.

    Read More

  • How Does Henry Fleming Change In The Red Badge Of Courage

    1008 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Red Badge of Courage is a descriptive novel about the courage one can develop if he/she rises above the fear. Henry Fleming was afraid and cowardly but, saw the look in his comrade's eyes and changed his entire mindset on the battle. Henry is my favorite character and the most like me for these reasons, he changed his entire way of thought for his regiment. This book is a well written Civil War novel on how war changes people not just for the negative but, for the positive

    Read More

  • Patriotism In 'The Red Badge Of Courage'

    391 Words  | 1 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Themes and Symbols in “The Red Badge of Courage”

    1626 Words  | 4 Pages

    There are four main themes to me in “The Red Badge of Courage.” These themes are courage, personal growth and maturity, self-preservation, and nature. The theme of courage is what this story is all about really. What is courage? Who has courage? I want courage. How does one obtain courage? This is what Henry wonders and eventually figures out after having a misunderstanding of what bravery and courage was to begin with though. “His self-pride was now entirely restored. In the shade of its flourishing growth he stood with braced and self-confident legs, and since nothing could now be discovered he did not shrink from an encounter with the eyes of judges, and allowed no thoughts of his own to keep him from an attitude of manfulness. He had performed his mistakes in the dark, so he was still a man” (Crane 78). Henry feels that because the other men are giving him praise, then he is right in his behavior. But is this courage? Absolutely not. As Henry marches from battle, the reader is led to believe

    Read More

  • The Red Badge Of Courage, By Stephen Crane

    1055 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to The Poetry Foundation, critics have had numerous debates on what literary movement The Red Badge of Courage should be classified as. Crane’s novel has been considered a work of realism, naturalism, impressionism, and symbolism. Those who view the novel as realistic see it as the “first unromanticized account of the Civil War” and a truthful depiction of war and soldiers (Poetry Foundation). The naturalistic viewers believe that the characters and experiences of the novel “are shaped by social, biological, and psychological forces” (Poetry Foundation). The Red Badge of Courage also displays many unique symbols and images and also a “consistent use of color imagery” which leads critics to classify the novel as Symbolistic and Impressionistic as well (Poetry Foundation). To sum up the literary movement of the novel, Edwin H. Cady stated, “’The very secret of the novel’s power inheres in the inviolably organic uniqueness with which Crane adapted all four methods to his need. The Red Badge’s method is all and none’” (Poetry

    Read More

  • The Transformation of Henry Fleming in The Red Badge of Courage

    1108 Words  | 3 Pages

    Stephen Crane's purpose in writing The Red Badge of Courage was to dictate the pressures faced by the prototypical American soldier in the Civil War.  His intent was accomplished by making known the horrors and atrocities seen by Unionist Henry Fleming during the Battle of Chancellorsville, and the conflicts within himself.

    Read More

  • Courage And Courage In The Red Badge Of Courage

    1068 Words  | 3 Pages

    Courage: the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery (Dictionary). Throughout the Red Badge of Courage, Henry Fleming, a young farm boy who fought for the Union, went out on the battlefield and battled his way to victory with his fellow soldiers. Henry held a prodigious amount of courage throughout the Civil War. Fleming's courageous tasks eventually paid off, by being promoted to lead one of the last battles. The courageous defeats against the Confederate soldiers resulted to the end of the Civil War and the victorious Union soldiers who can now go home to their families. Henry's injuries, his role during the battles, his loneliness, and his survival tactics all have an immense impact on how Henry fought and lived throughout the course of the Civil War.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of 1, 000 Years (Life After God By Douglas Coupland

    900 Words  | 2 Pages

    The writer uses imagery, because he wants to let the readers into his mind. By describing the scene for the readers, makes the readers fell like they were there. Therefore, it gives us a better ability to emphasize with him.

    Read More

  • The Red Badge Of Courage Essay

    792 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Red Badge of Courage is not a war novel. It is a novel about life. This novel illustrates the trials and tribulations of everyday life. Stephen Crane uses the war as a comparison to everyday life. He is semi-saying that life is like a war. It is a struggle of warriors—the every day people—against the odds. In these battles of everyday life, people can change. In The Red Badge of Courage, the main character, Henry Fleming, undergoes a character change that shows how people must overcome their fears and the invisible barriers that hold them back from being the best people—warriors, in the sense that life is war—they can be. Henry has a character change that represents how all humans have general sense of fear of the unknown that must be overcome.

    Read More

  • The Red Badge of Courage

    1086 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Red Badge of Courage, by it’s very title, is infested with color imagery and color symbols. While Crane uses color to describe, he also allows it to stand for whole concepts. Gray, for example, describes both the literal image of a dead soldier and Henry Fleming’s vision of the sleeping soldiers as corpses and comes to stand for the idea of death. In the same way, red describes both the soldiers’ physical wounds and Henry’s mental vision of battle. In the process, it gains a symbolic meaning which Crane will put an icon like the ‘red badge of courage’. Stephen Crane uses color in his descriptions of the physical and the non-physical and allows color to take on meanings ranging from the literal to the figurative.

    Read More

  • Use of Color in Crane's The Red Badge of Courage

    1652 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Red Badge of Courage uses both color imagery and color symbols. While Crane uses color to describe, he also allows it to stand for whole concepts. Gray, for example, describes the both the literal image of a dead soldier and Henry Fleming's vision of the sleeping soldiers as corpses and comes to stand for the idea of death. In the same way, red describes both the soldiers' physical wounds and Fleming's mental visions of battle. In the process, it gains a symbolic meaning which Crane will put to an icon like the "red badge of courage" (110, Penguin ed., 1983). Crane uses color in his descriptions of the physical and the metaphysical and allows color to take on meanings ranging from the literal to the figurative.

    Read More

  • Stephen Crane and American Realism

    1508 Words  | 4 Pages

    If it was not for Stephen Crane and his visionary work than American Realism would not have taken hold of the United States during the eighteen hundreds. During the years following the Civil War America was a melting pot of many different writing styles. Many scholars argue that at this time there was still no definite American author or technique. Up to this point authors in the Americas simply copied techniques that were popular in regions of Europe. Stephen Crane came onto the scene with a very different approach to many of his contemporaries. He was a realist, and being such he described actions in a true, unadorned way that portrayed situations in the manner that they actually occurred (Kaplan). He had numerous admired pieces but his most famous work was the Red Badge of Courage (Bentley 103). In this novel he illustrates the accounts of a Union soldier named Henry Fleming. At first the writing was considered too graphic and many people did not buy the book. Eventually the American people changed their opinions and began to gravitate towards Crane’s work. The readers were fascinated by the realistic environment he creates even though he himself had never fought in a war (Bentley 103). By spreading the influence of realistic writing Crane has come to be known as the first American Realist.

    Read More

More about Use Of Imagery In The Red Badge Of Courage

Open Document