The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane tells a story about a youth, Henry Fleming, who is eager to fight in the American Civil War because of the glory of victory. Once he was officially in the military, he realized that war wasn’t all he thought it would be. His regiment mostly just marched from place to place. The lack of fighting made Henry begin to doubt his decision to go against his mother’s wishes and join the war. When his regiment finally went to battle, Henry experienced things that made him mature from a boy to a man in a matter of days.…
Stephen Ambrose's Undaunted Courage is a remarkable piece of nonfiction literature. His work is so thorough that one wonders how he has time to do much more. Yet he has created time in his life to go west and go camping and hiking and canoeing in the summers with his family. Which possibly shows that anything can be raw material to the open mind, for it was on those trips that he developed a great fascination with the Lewis and Clark expedition that explored the West when the country was twenty-five years old. Ambrose creates a precise and true story of the expedition in witch most readers would be enthralled. His style is smooth, readable and enjoyable, unlike many historical nonfiction of the day. Undaunted courage has succeeded and conveying the meaning of the book and the significance of Lewis and Clark's expedition.…
James M. Cox was an English professor at Dartmouth College in Hanover for 27 years and a visiting professor at Kenyon College, Texas A&M, Princeton University, Emory University, and the University of Virginia. He was also awarded the Jay B. Hubbell medal for his accomplishments in American literature. Based on this information, this source is reliable. This article,” The Red Badge of Courage: The Purity of War” by James Cox, highlighted the key elements of realism portrayed in The Red Badge of Courage. In the article Cox also talks about Cranes other pieces such as Maggie, a Girl of the Streets, The Scarlet Letter, Black Riders, and many more. In this article Cox says, “Crane extends realism down into the society of soldiers. They are invariably…
When Henry returns home he is different, very quiet, so quiet and never comfortable sitting still anywhere but always up and moving around. Lyman describes, Henry of being jumpy and mean. (Erdrich 403). The convertible symbolizes how brothers express the concern over how relationship can change when soldiers cannot adequately express nor talk openly about thing that happen on a war torn battlefield, without proper medical treatment for PTSD. As he does not feel like the person he was before he went to serve for his county.…
Both Henry and Charley lost their way of logical thinking resulting from the war. Henry had transitioned from coward to the meanest soldier on the battle field.…
Henry starts to overcome his stutter towards the end as he began to open up from his respect of his own father, who fought in the Korean War. Though not everyone changed through the experiences of the play Cosi as some remained the same.…
Undaunted Courage is a very detailed account of what Ambrose considers the most important expedition in American history, Lewis and Clark's exploration of the west. Ambrose attempts to project Thomas Jefferson's vision of a country that stretches from sea to shining sea, of an open road to the west, of an "Empire of Liberty". Ambrose repeatedly shows how important the expedition was to the United States and especially to Thomas Jefferson by giving examples of the powers given to Lewis by Jefferson in order to complete the expedition. Lewis is given a letter of credit signed by Thomas Jefferson…
The main character of this book is Henry Fleming, mostly referred to as The Youth or Youth. The Youth has dark, curly brown hair also; he is a young teenager and is average height when compared to the Tall Soldier. Henry is insecure because he is going through a difficult stage between being a "man" and being a "boy". Henry can't wait to get to war when he signs up but during the book Henry learns that war has a lot of affects on people emotionally and physically. Henry's flaw is that he is afraid of making himself look bad and he is worried that he is going to be a coward and run away from battle. Henry really wants to be a "man" and be courageous. I once heard a swim coach give an extremely good definition of courage. He said "To me courage is not to be unafraid but it is to be afraid but one does it anyways and doesn't worry about being afraid. I think Henry thought of courageous as fearless and that is also part of his flaw.…
The relationship with his father allows him to think for himself. Growing up without a strong parental figure teaches him to become an independent man. The close bond Henry shares with Keiko teaches him to cherish those close to him. The final relationship that has an impact on Henry is the one he shares with his son, Marty. They endure numerous life changes together starting with the loss of Ethel and continuing with arrival of Samantha. Through it all, they regain the close bond which was missing from their lives. The relationships that Henry encounters have their ups and downs. He learns many life lessons from them, much like children learning to use a…
Henry believes he has passed some sort of trial. He stood in the face of death and battled back, and perceives himself magnificent for doing so. Yet that same day when his regiment is resting they receive a surprise attack from the men of the south. Instead of staying and fighting Henry lets fear over come him and runs into a forest to save his own life. He believes he has done the right things as he does not think anyone who stayed and fought could still be alive. During Henry’s scramble for survival he see’s two officers in a discussion and overhears how his regiment held off the surprise attack. Overcome with guilt Henry dejectedly wonders around trying to find his regiment. He comes across…
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen crane shows us Henry Fleming's journey through war. Crane develops Fleming by using animal imagery, patterns of speech, and interactions with other characters.…
Lieutenant Henry realizes that the war was never something that he enjoyed doing, nor is it his priority. He thinks to himself that, “anger was washed away in the river along with any obligation” (232). Henry doesn’t feel the sense of commitment that others in the war do. For example, when he talks to Gino, he cannot identify with the pride this young man feels for his country. He listens to him speak about words such as glory, honor, and courage, and they don’t mean anything to him. He hears Ettore Moretti talk about his accomplishments and awards, and does not feel that same pride. Instead, he feels only indifference. When other ambulance drivers talk about how Italy should withdraw from the war, he does not defend the country he is fighting for. He is an American, and when asked why he isn’t fighting for America, he doesn’t know the answer. The pride and glory that so many of the other men have is lacking in Lieutenant Henry. Throughout the book, he remains unfeeling and cold about the war. He doesn’t pick a side, but simply goes through the motions. After his illuminating moment, it was clear that his purpose in life was not to be out on the front…
Henry goes to battle and sees the enemy coming. He is thinking in his head, do i retreat or stay and hold my ground and them off? henry’s thought came quick when he asked himself,” He ran like a rabbit” (Crane 56).He heard a noise in a shelter like build. He ran in there to check it out and to get away and out of the line of fire. He finds the Tall Soldier laying there. Eric Solomon point soul,”The death of Conklin has particular meaning to the hero, just as in Crane’s story, The Open Boat, the stronger personality does not survive the test”(270).The body of the Tall Soldier laying here on the ground in front of Henry really opens his eyes and explains right there what ar is really like and it is not a joke. War is not a game. It impacted the whole book. It made Henry notice that it is time to grow up, be an adult he's not a kid anymore, “He scrambled upon a wee hill and watched it sweeping finley, keeping formation in difficult places”(Crane 59).HE was watching as people were shooting at each other. He has to grow and become a man and go out there and fight like his brothers and sisters that were drafted to come not just because they wanted to. They had to come, they were told to but Henry wanted to come because he wanted to be know as a hero in everyone's eyes. He needs to get out there and fight like a man he wants to be. That is why he signed up and came to war because he loves war and did not think war was as bad as it really is. He did not want to listen to his mom just because she is a female and he doesn't think women know what they are talking about when it comes to war and men…
The story’s theme and historical setting go along great and make it easy to graspe the theme quickly. With the story’s setting being a battle field the common person acknowledges that soliders who go into battle have a great amount of courage and much more which is what Henry encounters when faced with a battle field. He finds out that he must truly find out whom he truly is to find that courage with in to go into the battlefield with strength. The historical setting and theme tie in perfectly making it easy of how a solider should act and how should a solider should think through out war along with the theme of finding inner…
Before lieutenant Henry had experienced the consequences of the cruelty he experienced, he was very loyal to his country and his men. When, for example, he resorted to shooting and killing the engineer who refused to help the men with their army ambulances, Henry was overcome with his duty to his men and thought only of being loyal and dedicated (180). However, as he grew wary and distressed, his ambitions for his cause grew fainter and became unimportant in his mind. The cruelty of the events that unfolded caused for a political upheaval among the army, functioning as a stressor among their job and allowing for a drift away from nationalism. As Henry became more aware of his place in the army, he mentioned, “I was always embarrassed by the words sacred, glorious, and sacrifice and the expression in vain” (161). With an American heritage and culture in his background, the victim was no longer a nationally motivated lieutenant due to the political factor of cruelty, shot soldier on 180. The political factor primarily impacted the solider and the army, by creating a less motivated group of men in the pursuit of Italian victory.…