Red Badge Of Courage Essays - The Red Badge Of Courage, Free Essays

Red Badge Of Courage Essays - The Red Badge Of Courage, Free Essays Red Badge of Courage The Red Badge of Courage is the story of a young man named Henry Fleming. The novel concerns only two days in his life and he is a boy when the novel begins, a man when the novel ends. He enlists in the 304th Regiment of New York Volounteers against his mother's wishes, and spends many boring months in training. He is sent into battle finally. The battle of Chancellorville is the agreed upon location where the book probably takes place. It is mentioned that he travels along the Arappahanock River and by Richmond. The book details historical fact of the battle. This was the closest the South ever came to Washington D.C. and it was a very intense battle. Against a background of battlefield trauma, Crane sets a very important battle: the battle going on in Henry's mind. Henry believes he is faced with imminent death, and throws down his rifle and flees during the second skirmish on the first day. He attempts to rationalize his actions and becomes increasingly ashamed of himself. As he wanders in the rear of the fighting, he encounters a dead soldier. Eventually he falls in with some wounded men and witnesses the death of his close friend, Jim Conklin. As a result of that, he deserts another friend dying and runs. He wants to make a wound for himself so that he is removed from the battle, and by accident is hit on the head by a deserter. He's discovered by another soldier, who helps him return to his regiment. There he lies and says he was wounded in battle. The next day he goes to the front again, and actually retrieves his army's colors from the dying flag bearer. He urges his comrads on, and is proclaimed a hero. Crane wrote this book when he was twenty three years old, in ten days. He had never been in battle and critics through the United States and England could not believe that he had never seen war. His sources were teachers athis small private school in New York State. The book's genius is now regarded as an American masterpiece of psychological writing. Unfortunately, it seems he was probably haunted by the experience of this book and ultimately went to join the Spanish American War. He was disqualified from fighting due to tuberculosis, but he continued into Cuba as a reporter for Pulitzer and Hearst. He contracted malaria there and several years later died at the age of twenty eight. The Red Badge of Courage is an intense inner story of thoughts, fears and imaginings that any member of an infantry would find. As comrads fell to the right and left, and as people were pannicked, the chaos and confusion of kill or be killed comes forth in simple boyish questions. He stares at corposes. He becomes obsessed with the thought that the troops are marching into a trap and none of the leaders know it. He wants to warn his companions. He feels stupid and incompetent. The first battle arrives and he feels the physical effects of fighting burning in his eyes and roaring in his ears. He feels suffocated by the smoke of gunfire. All the soldiers and officers are fighting in every way possible and when it stops, infront of him, he sees everyone around him dead and the wounded crawling away. He hears the sounds of fighting coming from everywhere and realizes that he is surrounded by war. Crane's language becomes impressionistic. Henry is amazed to see "a pure blue sky and the sun gleaming on the trees and fields." He then wakes up, somehow, and sees how proud he is of himself. Suddenly the enemy reappears. The youth feels it must be a mistake. He sees men around him running and he feels he is being left alone to die. He turns and runs. He runs into yet another battle where, at the edge of the forest, he feels as if he's being kept in by nature itself. That the branches of the trees are trying to halt his progress. He sees his friend Jim Conklin shot through the stomach, mortally wounded, and is told he should remove him from the battle. Jim runs to the bushes before he dies to avoid being run over by war wagons. Henry watches with an agony almost as great as his friend. Henry tries to understand what Jim is thinking but cannot reach his friend. Crane ends the chapter with the sentance, "The red sun was pasted in the sky