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Stephen crane role in realism
Literary realism stephen crane
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Chapter 1 Analysis:
Stephen Crane begins a new course of realism in The Red Badge of Courage. Many critics point to him as one of the first American authors of a modern style, and The Red Badge as a fine example of this. The novel is built on a coming-of-age theme, and many of its descriptive elements, such as its concentration on nature and character's actions, are in the realist style, most popularized in America by William Dean Howells and Frank Norris. However, Crane's style in this book has some slight differences from earlier styles. The narrator does not name the characters. In the first chapter, we discover the names of Henry and Jim only through their dialogue with other characters. The narrator only refers to them by descriptors‹"the
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However, he sees the effects of these red badges in an upfront way when confronted with the spectral figure of Jim Conklin. The tall soldier has been wounded twice. The badges he carries prevent him from walking and thinking clearly.
Furthermore as they walk together, the gray fear and unknown is still with Jim, despite his wounds. His face turns gray as he tells Henry that he fears being trampled to death by the speeding artillery carts. This shows that the phantoms of battle and death, the gray unknown, do not escape even those who have a red badge of courage.
Henry, though he finally wants to act for the first time since the battle, cannot do anything. Jim will not let him even touch him. Besides, death is so close for Jim that there is nothing the youth can do. This frustration and anger at seeing his friend die makes Henry weep so much, that he cannot talk. Henry's words and thoughts are finally halted. He is no longer thinking now. Remember that he was still interpreting the images he saw as the fled from battle; now, he can do little but
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He takes care of Henry and his wound, trying to make him comfortable, complimenting his toughness, making sure he gets to sleep. There is little bragging about the loud soldier's actions. He does them, it seems, out of his joy to see Henry.
The imagery of the chapter suggests that he also may do this out of weariness for battle himself. Pictures of exhausted, sleeping soldiers dominate this chapter. While we do not know what the regiment has gone through exactly, all the men are asleep by the time Henry arrives. The youth has had a longer day than the rest of the soldiers. Perhaps this is driving Wilson's desire to take care of Henry‹he is a member of their regiment, of their group, who was given up for dead. Now that he has returned, he needs a little extra
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.
Even though Henry never expressed his fears to Tom Wilson or Jim Conklin. the audience could tell by the expressions on his face that he was scared. While he was writing a letter to his parents he wrote about how he is going to fight for the first time and he wants to make the proud. After Henry runs away from the first battle. He feels embarrassed because he didn't have a wound.
The first time Henry's flaw gets him in trouble is in chapter 10 and when he gets his chance to go into battle he flees. He at first thinks the war is boring but he soon learns that war is very frightening. When Henry flees he also shows insecurity when he tries to make up an excuse for why he wasn't with the rest of the regiment. Henry thinks very poorly of himself at this point and really anyone would run from a war, I don't think he was ready.
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.
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
The success of combat is directly related to the morale of the soldiers, as it is the relationship with the neighboring soldier that demonstrates the motive for fighting. This association between men creates an abundance of compulsion from one man to the next. Similarly, as Henry Fleming developed a rapport with men throughout the 304th Regiment, he began to be subjected to the pressures of war and his companions, which greatly influenced his maturation during the Civil War. 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.
When Henry decides he wants to join the war, he thinks it will be this great epic event. He seeks honor and glory, which in my opinion cannot be found on a battlefield. He is known as the youth or the quiet soldier because he doesn’t talk to much. When the first battle starts Henry runs out of fear making him a disereter. This goes to show that Henry is very young and may not
During the Civil War, injuries caused lots of damage on soldiers and their bodies. Usually, when a soldier gets severely injured, amputation was the best option. A common phrase, “Bite the Bullet”, became very prevalent upon the Civil War culture. The phrase literally meant during the amputation process, the surgeon gave an actual bullet to the soldier to bite on while his limb was being removed (Phrases). In the beginning of the novel, Henry constantly contemplated running when the battle started, or staying to fight for victory. Henry did not show any signs of courage until he steeped on the battlefield for the second time and began to fight. Injuries inflicted on Henry and his comrades drew out a lot of courage on themselves along with the rest army division. “At times he regarded the wounded soldiers in an envious way. He conceived persons with torn bodies to be peculiarly happy. He wished that he, too, ...
Stephen Crane holds a very naturalistic point of view in his writing which can be seen clearly throughout all his works of literacy. He expresses This ideologie through both “The Red Badge of Courage” and “The Veteran.” Throughout the entirety of these writings, Crane is constantly providing naturalistic ideas and poking fun at romanticism.
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.
These actions the characters do are in reference to what they actually physically do. In Stephen Crane’s novella “The Red Badge of Courage,” when the soldiers are at camp, he describes their actions. “It appeared that two light-footed soldiers had been teasing a huge, bearded man, causing him to spill coffee upon his blue knees. The man had gone into a rage and had sworn comprehensively.” In this passage Stephen Crane leaves it up to the reader to depict and understand what the rest of the soldiers were doing. He also gives the reader permission to decide whether or not this was friendly argument or true strife among the men. These are the sort of actions Crane uses to describe and present his purpose. Sharma says, “Henry decides to run away and he too runs, following the actions of the other soldiers who have already fled.” Sharma is recognizing the significance of Henry, the star of “The Red Badge of Courage,” to run away. The reader is left with the impression that he ran away, but he or she can only conclude what he or she’s mind concludes with the given information. For instance, was Henry being cowardly or knowledgeable? This interpretation is left up to the reader, continuing the idea of
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.
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.