Critical Writing Activity: Comparing and Contrasting War Stories

War can be defined as “an active struggle between competing entities. It’s truly hard to tell who is right or wrong during a war. Both sides are fighting for what they believe in and what is true to their heart. In the end there is always two things promised – destruction and death. These two objects can explain the result in every facet of war from the physical to emotional.

The two books “Soldier’s Heart,” and “The Red Badge of Courage,” have their differences and similarities that take the reader on a wild, emotional journey. The major differences amongst the stories highlights the characters personalities, or traits, and assists in making each book stand apart from

War can force young soldiers to grow up quickly. In The Red Badge of Courage, Henry Fleming is no exception. He enters the war with romanticized ideas of what war is like, and leaves with those ideas very much changed.

In The Red Badge of Courage, Henry shows immaturity by enlisting in the army and being naïve about the war. Henry explains that since he was young, he dreamed about the war of the bloody battles that the soldiers fought in. He thinks fighting in a war will make him a hero and achieve glory. He enlisted in the army, although his mother opposed the decision. However, when he makes it to the camp, he had to wait many weeks in the camps until he was called up to battle, and he started to doubt his place in the army.

Using Writing style, theme, and context for both stories The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane and Camouflaging the Chimera by Yusef Komunyakaa shows that even though they are both about different wars they can have similarities and also some difference. Even though both writings were about the same subject they could have differences but also none the less

The Red Badge of Courage takes place during the civil war and is heavily realistic, even though; Crane had never actually been in a war.

In the Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane, Henry has a conflict of individual vs. self as he struggles to mature at first when confronted with the realities of war. We see Henry be mesmerized by the glories of being a soldier but he does not truly understand what it means to be a soldier fighting in a conflict such as the Civil War. He matures and develops throughout his exposure to warfare and understands what it means to be a warrior. This is the central point in understanding why he fights with the other soldiers the first battle, yet he flees when the second battle ensues.

The Novel, The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane, is about a Union Regiment during the civil war that is stationed along a riverbank. Henry Flemming is a newcomer who is bothered about his bravery because there is a rumor the regiment is going to go to battle. The only reason Henry was drawn to enlist was because he wanted to become a war hero. The main conflict is internal. When Henry has to go into battle and risk his life, he realizes that there is no turning back, and he could not run if he tried. The climax occurs when he is enraged by another soldier, Jim Conklin, and takes out his anger on the confederates, impressing the lieutenant. Additionally, Wilson, his friend, and him hear another lieutenant say that the 304th regiment fights like “mule drivers.” The two friends set out to disprove his claim. For example, when the regiment’s color bearer dies, Henry assumes his duties. After continuing to face more adversity from the lieutenants, they work harder and harder to become the best in the regiment. The resolution occurs when Henry finally realizes joining the war is not about reputation or becoming a hero, it is about fighting for a cause that is worth fighting for. At the end of the novel, Flemming reflects on the war and on how he learned the meaning of true courage. (251 Words)

The short story that will be discussed, evaluated, and analyzed in this paper is a very emotionally and morally challenging short story to read. Michael Meyer, author of the college text The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature, states that the author of How to Tell a True War Story, Tim O’Brien, “was drafted into the Vietnam War and received a Purple Heart” (472). His experiences from the Vietnam War have stayed with him, and he writes about them in this short story. The purpose of this literary analysis is to critically analyze this short story by explaining O’Brien’s writing techniques, by discussing his intended message and how it is displayed, by providing my own reaction,

There are several main characters in this story ‘’The Red Badge of Courage’’ first of all Henry, a young soldier fighting for the Union army during the American Civil War. Jim Conklin, Henry’s friend, a tall soldier hurt during the regiment’s first battle. Jim soon dies from his wounds, and represents, in the early part of the novel, an important moral contrast to Henry.Wilson, loud private; Henry’s friend in the regiment. Wilson and Henry grow close as they share the harsh experiences of war and gain a reputation as the regiment’s best fighters.

The overall tone of The Red Badge of Courage is Ironic. Irony is the expression of one’s meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, commonly for humorous or emphatic effect. Stephen Crane includes many examples of Irony within The Red Badge of courage. One example of irony would be in chapter twelve, Henry was envious of people who earned a Red Badge because they got valor for getting injured during battle, well Henry got a Red Badge for getting hit in the face with the back of a gun by a fellow comrade. A Second example is In Chapter Six, Soldiers say that what they were doing was too much of a good thing to do, yet they were the ones who enlisted to give their lives.

Written by Stephen Crane, The Red Badge of Courage is a novel filled with irony. This story is written in the point of view of the main character, Henry Fleming, and tells about his maturation through the war. Including the title, from the beginning to the end of the book there is irony present. The use of irony by Crane helps create a lot of discussion for critics. Henry’s internal debate is a main source of irony in this novel. Also, his fantasy of how he thought war was going to be and how it turned out is ironic.

He described that he couldn’t escape even if he wanted to. Through this analogy, the reader can see that Henry is reducing the soldiers to unthinking, unfeeling machines, performing their duty without taking into account the threat of injury or death. As he looks around at the faces of the rest of the soldiers in his regiment, he notices their focused commitment to the firing of their rifles. He wonders if he is the only one faced with questions of morality. While the regiment began to advance, Henry was shocked to receive a packet of letters from Wilson, who feared he would die in battle. After the battle, he is glad that he made it through the first day. He begins to lose the romantic vision of war by seeing the realities, but he starts lying to himself about who is really is.

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 first steps in war are the steps of overcoming the line of comfort by solving the self-centered beliefs that will break you in a battlefront. Once overcoming those selfish traits and believe in yourself, that is when one flourish on the battle field. Henry Fleming's urge for war was short lived when he was put on the frontline. Henry Fleming was a fearful, coward, who always gained self-control and self-comfort by