The Red
Stephen Crane's literary technique has long been a matter of great interest, analysis, and speculation. In The Red Badge of Courage Crane takes us into the life of a young man named Henry Fleming, who wants to enlist in the United States Army and fight in the war against the South. By using irony, similes, and symbols, to name a few, Crane "paints" a vivid picture of what life was like for the fragile Henry Fleming. He opens our eyes to the vast reasons of separation for Fleming, and why he lived his life so independently. The precarious, vulnerable, and insecure Henry Fleming was isolated from more than just his family and his regiment; he was isolated from himself. As the narrative, The Red Badge of Courage, opens, Henry and his mother are engaged in a quarrel about Henry leaving to join the Army. By going against his mother's wishes and disobeying her, he isolates himself from his family. This isolation is imperative to the way Henry lives his life during his time in the Army. Moral support is something that a f
He wonders if he will turn and run when death is looking him in the eyes, or if he will decide to stay and do what he came to do; prove that he is a man and can handle even death itself. He becomes unified with his fellow comrades and his regiment, puts the dispute with his mother aside, and faces his fears and doubts. It points out that becoming what we want to become, like it did Henry, takes time and continuous effort. During war, a soldier's most important support system is his/her regiment. Throughout the majority of this narrative Henry is torn between the boy he is and the man he wants to be. " This sentence, the last sentence in the novel, hits the reader the hardest. The handshake shared between the "cheerful soldier" and Henry, swings him back into the warm community of men. He felt that his assumption was clearly rectified- he was a coward. The soldiers in the regiment feel a certain pride and respectability from earning their "red badge. The te!nsion is eased after he mistakenly "earns" his "red badge" from a friend. He is apprehensive of the reaction he will have towards any stimulus thrown out at him, therefore creating a fear that separates and isolates him from not only the rest of his regiment and his family, but himself as well. All through the war Henry questions his courage and bravery. Henry Fleming seemed to become the virtuoso of separation, individualism, and isolation. Thus revealing the first isolation in Henry Fleming's life. This is a support system that Henry has, then loses throughout this time period in his life.
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Acceptance Essays
