The image of smoke is tied somewhat ironically to both the act of destruction and the ability to engender complexities out of the raw materials of the earth. Smoke is indicative of fire -- a tool that has been simultaneously feared and utilized by humans for millennia. Given its relationship with destruction, smoke is often paired with images of war and conflict; thus, it is no surprise when Stephen Crane utilizes this symbol in the Red Badge of Courage to reflect the nature of war and its effect on the human psyche. Our protagonist -- Henry -- finds his first experience with battle in the midst of a smoke-filled, chaotic battlefield. Henry’s initial encounter with the rage and violence of war comes in the midst of gunsmoke, “Buried in the
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The end of Henry’s journey (as we see portrayed) in the novel comes with a final push against the enemy in a glorious charge. As Henry’s regiment charges at their antagonists, “The smoke, rolling, disclos[es] men who [run], their heads still turned,” (95). Where our protagonists are portrayed as valiant and staunch men of battle, their foe’s line breaks and they flee in cowardice. The “rolling smoke” discloses the true nature of these men, men who will scurry in the face of death -- and as they do so the physical embodiment of war flees with them. In this action, Crane is illustrating the delicate balance that combat has over the light (or lack thereof) in which those embroiled within it view both themselves and each other. An enemy obscured by smoke is an ambiguous and malevolent force, but once the cover of haze abandons them, they in turn flee. Thus, war’s enmity and chaos find physical embodiment in the ever present smoke looming over the
The end of Henry’s journey (as we see portrayed) in the novel comes with a final push against the enemy in a glorious charge. As Henry’s regiment charges at their antagonists, “The smoke, rolling, disclos[es] men who [run], their heads still turned,” (95). Where our protagonists are portrayed as valiant and staunch men of battle, their foe’s line breaks and they flee in cowardice. The “rolling smoke” discloses the true nature of these men, men who will scurry in the face of death -- and as they do so the physical embodiment of war flees with them. In this action, Crane is illustrating the delicate balance that combat has over the light (or lack thereof) in which those embroiled within it view both themselves and each other. An enemy obscured by smoke is an ambiguous and malevolent force, but once the cover of haze abandons them, they in turn flee. Thus, war’s enmity and chaos find physical embodiment in the ever present smoke looming over the