The Red Badge of Courage “Something new”
In The Red Badge of Courage, Crane uses an unconventional method in his description of war. Most war stories depict the experience as a romantic endeavor full of heroism, courage, and glory. However, Crane sets out to destroy these myths by using the experiences of Henry Fleming and contrasting his romantic expectations with the actual realities of the battlefield. The book follows the adventures of Henry from when he cowardly fled in his first battle to when he finally became brave enough to lead a charge and capture the rebel flag.
One of the greatest distinctive features of the writings is that it does not use any geographical names. Therefore, the reader is unable to identify the actual location of the battle on a map. Moreover, the book offers no distinct dates thus making it impossible to link with any historical occurrence. Furthermore, the enemy remains faceless for most parts of the book, making the experience derived by the reader more surreal. The reader is, therefore, able to picture the day to day uncertainty of war and the resulting chaos as told through Henry’s experiences.
Unlike other fictional war novels, The Red Badge never justifies the …show more content…
The battle scenes are meant to evoke the thought of war and the feeling of confusion and panic at the turn of events. Both writers attempt to capture the imagination of the reader and with it, acquire his/her empathy. The amount of intrigue on the reader is the writers’ measure of perfection. The description of events captures the readers’ attention and the writer’s ability to translate the events from his mind to words with which the reader can actually relate. The passage that best captures my attention is that of the Red Badge of Courage. Henry does not understand the retreat of the soldiers who had just marched bravely into the woods moments ago (Cranes 89). It is on the first paragraph of chapter
In The Red Badge of Courage, Crane uses an unconventional method in his description of war. Most war stories depict the experience as a romantic endeavor full of heroism, courage, and glory. However, Crane sets out to destroy these myths by using the experiences of Henry Fleming and contrasting his romantic expectations with the actual realities of the battlefield. The book follows the adventures of Henry from when he cowardly fled in his first battle to when he finally became brave enough to lead a charge and capture the rebel flag.
One of the greatest distinctive features of the writings is that it does not use any geographical names. Therefore, the reader is unable to identify the actual location of the battle on a map. Moreover, the book offers no distinct dates thus making it impossible to link with any historical occurrence. Furthermore, the enemy remains faceless for most parts of the book, making the experience derived by the reader more surreal. The reader is, therefore, able to picture the day to day uncertainty of war and the resulting chaos as told through Henry’s experiences.
Unlike other fictional war novels, The Red Badge never justifies the …show more content…
The battle scenes are meant to evoke the thought of war and the feeling of confusion and panic at the turn of events. Both writers attempt to capture the imagination of the reader and with it, acquire his/her empathy. The amount of intrigue on the reader is the writers’ measure of perfection. The description of events captures the readers’ attention and the writer’s ability to translate the events from his mind to words with which the reader can actually relate. The passage that best captures my attention is that of the Red Badge of Courage. Henry does not understand the retreat of the soldiers who had just marched bravely into the woods moments ago (Cranes 89). It is on the first paragraph of chapter