The Red Badge Of Courage Chapter 1 Summary

Words: 1070
Pages: 5

1. In the past, and the present occasionally, the concept of war has been glorified. There is always the notion of going into battle as a ‘boy’ and returning a ‘man’. Many novels and movies have marketed war in such a way, causing the concept to be romanticized. However, in The Red Badge of Courage, Stephen Crane has written about war with a fresh approach. The main character, Henry Fleming, is a soldier during the American Civil War. He holds the belief that war is something of gloriousness and is then forced to face the reality of the war. It is in this way that Crane offers a more realistic and unglorified version of the classic telling of a war story.
2. In chapter eight of The Red Badge of Courage, there is a fight described from the point of view of Henry Fleming. The passage from the novel gives off a sense of realness which contributes to the believability of the descriptions. This
…show more content…
Boyer, when he says “in the thickest of the fights,” I believe he is referring to going into battle in the most dangerous conditions. It is where the stakes are highest and where the battle is most severe. So we learn that by “thickest of the fights,” that Boyer used to go into very dangerous and high stake battles during his time.
4. In chapter six of the novel, The Red Badge of Courage, Crane says, “The shells, which had ceased…flowers bursting into fierce bloom (Page 64).” We learn that the cease in the battle comes to an end because the “shells” of the bullets came “swirling again.” We can also imagine what they looked like because Crane describes them as “war flowers.”
5. The purpose of the writer’s actions during the Chancellorsville battle is to show the strategic prowess that was possessed. It is said that the guns were ready for battery at any moment. This shows that the underlying purpose was to keep the men and weapons prepared. The author is careful with details about the soldiers and weapons to highlight the importance and reality of the wartime