The Red Badge of Courage :: essays research papers

Chapter 1 AnalysisStephen Crane begins a new telephone circuit of realism in The Red mark 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 characters actions, are in the realist style, approximately popularized in America by William Dean Howells and Frank Norris. However, Cranes style in this book has some tenuous differences from earlier styles. The bank clerk does not name the characters. In the first chapter, we learn the names of atomic number 1 and Jim only through their dialogue with other characters. The narrator only refers to them by descriptors"the tall soldier" in Jims case and, closely importantly, "the young soldier" in Henrys case. Calling Henry "the youth" is the most important indicator that this novel is about his maturity. I n this first chapter, he is unproven even to himself. Before enlisting, Henrys thoughts of war and battle are those of brave struggles for life and death the possibility of cowardice does not arise in his initial thoughts of battle. However, his mothers speech leaves much more room for interpreting his let future struggles. Rather than give him the advice of the Spartans of ancient Greece to "return carrying your shield or on top of it" (meaning either victorious or killed in combat, not having dropped it fleeing), his mother tells him that, when faced with a situation of kill or be killed, he has to do what he thinks is right, and only that. This is a critical fleck in the plot of the book. Henrys actions when facing battle are unknown, even to him. His convictions were noticeable enough to join the army. save these were not because of patriotism or a will to simply fight the narrator shows Henry to be fantasizing of dire deeds instead. His mothers farewell speech sho ws that no one, not even Henry or the narrator, is sure what he will do when faced with battle. still Jims answers, while they calm Henrys fears, still are so vague that they do not lead to any concrete predictions for their future actions in battle. Yet Crane has written into this novel a way to tell sealed characteristics even without explicit direction from the narratorthe use of color metaphors.