1.04 Dialectical Journal

First, Stephen Crane develops emotional connections with the readers by using irony to comfort the families. He does so by repeating “war is kind” when in fact it is not. He is convincing

In Crane’s “A Mystery of Heroism” he uses literary elements to create Naturalist themes. One main belief of Naturalists is that someone’s life is determined by environment, chance, and heredity. Crane uses the setting and characters to create this theme. In the story it says, “Too, he wondered why he did not feel some keen agony of fear cutting his sense like a knife.” This quote shows that the main character is not afraid. The setting of the war is one of the reasons he does not feel fear. He has probably been in a more fearful situation since he has been in the war. If he had not been a soldier and been in this setting he would be more fearful. Crane uses characters to create this main idea by showing the other characters who argue with Collins until he goes to the well. In “A Mystery of Heroism” it says, “ ‘Of course, yeh will! Yeh’ll run through that there

In the story, Crane uses literary techniques such as logos and ethos to describe the harshness of the Civil War and of life. The story tells of a Civil War lieutenant who is shot in the arm while parting out coffee for his troops, and despite the lack of severity of the wound, his arm must be amputated. The lieutenant uses logic when he struggles and denies the fact that his arm requires amputation, but the doctor insists. The story tells of his struggle by saying, “‘Let go of me,’ said the lieutenant, holding back wrathfully, his glance fixed upon the door of the old schoolhouse, as sinister to him as the portals of death.” This shows the seriousness of life and the unfairness of it because the lieutenant was not engaged in battle, yet a stray bullet hit his arm. The story also shows emotion when the lieutenant’s arm is unjustly amputated and he must sooth his family by telling them that his situation is not as serious as they make it out to be, although he himself felt it was unfair. He faces life with dignity and realizes the seriousness of

Chapter 5: Paul explains about how unsanitary the camps are, explaining that he and his friends had gotten louses (lice) in their head, and they try to attempt to get it off. Haie tries to cheer up the rest of the soldiers by telling them that he might have got the lice from the hospital, but he is the one who laugh the most, for 30 minutes straight. After trying to get the lice off themselves, they hear that Himmelstoss got in trouble for harassing the soldiers, and the magistrate’s son caught him in the action. Hearing the news that Himmelstoss got in trouble for his wrongdoings, Paul and the rest of the group start planning out what they should do or say to Himmelstoss when he comes back to the camp. When talking about what they should do

Crane was giving the abysmal family life because again he was trying to give readers a background as well as a peak into the life of these people. He was explaining and analyzing the level of literacy buy writing passages how they would sound if you said it out loud. He was also showing how hard it was for people growing up in that lifestyle.

1. I would put myself in the place of the man on the horse he looks like he could be the leader, so the leader.

Crane’s use of characterization helps the reader form ideas or hypotheses about the way a character will act throughout the story. In Chapter One, as Pete is approaching the brawl on the street, he is given the following description:

Henry Fleming, the main character of the book, was at first very exited to go to war, joining the army against his mother's consent. After a few weeks in the regiment he starts to finds war frightening. Crane describes the way Henry flees from battle. 'He to, threw down his gun and fled. There was no shame in

2. I believe Crane’s passage comes closest to giving the reader the feeling that he is actually experiencing the event. The descriptions are more vivid and allow the reader to perceive the same things as the main character.

War forces young soldiers to grow up quickly. In Stephen Crane’s Civil War novel, The Red Badge of Courage, Henry Fleming is no exception. He is faced with the hard reality of war and this forces him to readjust his romantic beliefs about war. Through the novel, the reader can trace the growth and development of Henry through these four stages: (1) romanticizing war and the heroic role each soldier plays, (2) facing the realities of war, (3) lying to himself to maintain his self-importance, and (4) realistic awareness of his abilities and place in life. Through Henry’s experiences in his path to self-discovery, he is strongly affected by events that help shape his ideology of war, death,

Books and stories are more than just stories. Many authors aim to challenge the reader in several different ways. Stephen Crane serves as a prime example for this concept; he continually asks questions through his literature, challenging the thoughts of the reader. This critical view is popular among critics of Crane, and reading his work proves its truth. Crane tries to make his work more than an enjoyable story.

People tend to be greatly influenced by stories, news, and other contemporary sources of knowledge, which ultimately affects the impact they have on the world. Stephen Crane was greatly impacted by the time period in which he lived. One such influence was the popular literary style of Realism. Realism is the trend in which literature is based on the true nature of everyday occurrences devoid of any fantasy or romance. It is the raw depiction of what life and society is actually like. This literary style can be found in many of Stephen Crane’s novels. Religion also had a significant impact on the way Stephen Crane wrote his novels. He was an atheist which brought about the idea that humans are just part of nature and must solve their own problems without the intervention of a higher being. This notion is evident with the protagonist of The Red Badge of Courage. Henry Fleming, a young union soldier in the Civil War, must overcome the fear of putting his life at risk to achieve what he wants most which is honor. Honor comes from actively participating in battle and sacrificing his life for the cause. Honor is physically represented from a wound noted as the “Red Badge”. In the end Henry doesn’t consult in a higher being and achieves what he wants most by overcoming the mental obstacles and ultimately finding the strength within to realize what courage actually is. Accompanied by the literary movements and his religion, his time period was heavily influenced by the

The Red Badge of Courage, written by Stephan Crane in 1895 gives a detailed, yet, fictional account of Henry Fleming, a farm boy who joins the Union Army in the American Civil War. Before Henry is battle-tested, he ponders his courage and questions whether he will be able to fight the urge to flee from battle. Henry does indeed end up deserting his comrades however he ultimately overcomes his guilt and becomes one of the best fighters in his regiment. In order to depict a realistic and relatable war scene, Crane includes Henry’s realistic thought-process and emotion in his struggles to maintain courage. The narrative simply revealed war in a manner that was divergent to all prior forms of literature in the 19th century. Previous novels predominately entailed the glorious and romantic aspects of war rather than the tedious, gritty, and gruesome details of close combat. Instead, Crane broke the barriers of literary norms in war-related literature; the novel depicted a pragmatic experience of combat from the eyes of an inexperienced and frightened youth. In the Red Badge of Courage, Stephan Crane primarily uses religious and gory imagery as well as symbolism to contrast the romantic conceptions of war versus the reality of experiencing battle.

The difference between Crane’s novel and other books like it is that in many ways, it’s unconventional and doesn’t tell a story quite like any other book. Barely anything about where the battles took place are described throughout the book, simply giving the reader the information that there were 2 opposing sides that were or were not in battle. Another distinction is how Crane portrays the character’s place in all of this. Instead of feeding the reader information that may have been learned or assumed about the opposing side, portraying them as “the bad guys,” or even depicting his fellow soldiers as people who were fighting for a righteous cause. Both sides were seemingly just ordered to fight each other because of the color of their uniform. Crane develops Henry as a character throughout the novel in no specific way, where he makes direct transitions from a cowardly soldier forced to fight all the way into him becoming a more mature and courageous person that is slowly forged into over the course of the book. Even so, not all questions that arise throughout the story are answered throughout the novel, giving

Crane had a new reputation as a war writer, but his curiosity led him to become a war correspondent. In 1897 he set sail for Cuba to report on Cuban revolutionaries; the boat that he was aboard ended up sinking. His firsthand experience led him to write The Open Boat. In this novel, he used vivid imaginary to explain what happened to a handful of men against the power of the indifferent but destructive sea (“Stephen Crane”). He was unable to get to Cuba so he set out for the Greco-Turkish War. He wanted to be a firsthand writer, to make his writings realistic. While trying to accomplish his goal for writing, Crane ended up getting sick. He kept getting sick while he was a war correspondent because he was around filth so much and he could not really get away from it. Although he was not physically harmed by the war, he was physically harmed by his environment at the age of twenty-eight. He contracted malaria and tuberculosis and soon passed away. He passed away in Badenweiler, Germany on June 5, 1900 (“Stephen Crane Biography”). He passed away at a young age, but it was because of all the diseases he contracted while trying to write his stories for the public.