Stephen Crane Naturalism

Naturalists Stephen Crane created many literary works throughout his short life time of 29 years. As a naturalist he uses characters that are often manipulated by forces that are commonly beyond their understanding. Crane also had many pieces about the military and war life, “Crane attended military school at Claverack College, where he pursued an interest in Civil War studies,” (Cengage Learning). Most of Crane’s work focuses on the effects of something instead of the actual event itself. For example, in The Red Badge of Courage, he explores the mental and physical hardships of that of a soldier in the Civil War, while noting very little the actual cause of the war, or the war itself as the main focus. Another piece of writing in which he …show more content…
By using the actions of the characters he is able to further demonstrate the feelings and motivates of the characters. In An Episode of War Crane shows the actions of the lieutenant for the reader to further discover the meanings of the literary piece, this is demonstrated on page 513, “And this is the story of how the lieutenant lost his arm.” He had refused the help of the doctor and in turn had to have amputated, which was his want. This demonstrated his independency and the want to be a hero of war. In Red Badge of Courage this is also demonstrated when Henry was able to see that the color bearer of the enemies was closed to death on page 146, “ With this terrible grin of resolution he hugged his precious flag to him and was stumbling and staggering in his design to go to the way that led to safety for it.” The actions of Henry of attempting to gain the flag of the enemies demonstrate that he is finally able to overcome his fear of war. Crane has played with the idea of alternative meanings several times, “Studying his representations of war, Giorgio Mariani was struck by how Crane conveyed the idea of an alternate point of view,” (Hayes). Through using the characters actions, Crane is able to clarify and enhance his