In The Red Badge of Courage, Stephen Crane employs a lyrical yet unsentimental style, typical of the Naturalist movement, to both expose the social horror of war and capture Henry’s youth and inner vulnerability. The novel abounds with lush descriptions of the rural environment in which the battle takes place. (Scholars believe Crane was inspired by the 1863 Battle of Chancellorsville, a critical episode in the American Civil War that took place in northern Virginia.) When describing the weather at the outset of the novel, Crane writes:
The cold passed reluctantly from the earth, and the retiring fogs revealed an army stretched out on the hills, resting.
By personifying the weather, Crane draws the reader into the scene, presenting reality exactly as it might have appeared to a young soldier like Henry. These descriptions of nature contrast to depictions of the Union and Confederate armies as unnatural or demonic forces. When Henry spots the opposing army’s campfires across a stream, Crane describes them as possessing a “red, eyelike gleam.” Later, he compares Henry’s own regiment to “one of those moving monsters wending with many feet.” As with his descriptions of nature, Crane employs rich figurative language here; but the images he creates are far more disturbing, emphasizing the monstrous nature of war. Initially, the evocative language Crane uses to describe the environment seems to suggest that nature can act as a refuge for traumatized soldiers. But the fact that nature stays serene and beautiful throughout the novel, despite the deadly battles that unfold, ultimately makes a farce of that expectation. Rather, Crane’s depictions of nature show that nature exists separately from the war and is indifferent to human affairs—a key theme of the novel.
Crane uses blunt, if sometimes formal, language to describe Henry’s thoughts. For example, when Henry is reflecting on his conduct in battle at the end of the novel, Crane writes:
He saw that he was good. He recalled with a thrill of joy the respectful comments of his fellows upon his conduct.
This simple prose makes Henry’s perspective immediate to the reader and highlights his youth and naivety: one reason his thoughts can be rendered so clearly is that he’s too young to truly grapple with the complexities of war. By contrast, the movements of troops and the progress of battles remains hazy; like Henry, the reader generally knows little about where the army is going or when the fighting will begin. The deliberately vague style in which Crane renders the military aspect of his novel underscores the brutal chaos, and ultimate pointlessness, of war.
In The Red Badge of Courage, Stephen Crane employs a lyrical yet unsentimental style, typical of the Naturalist movement, to both expose the social horror of war and capture Henry’s youth and inner vulnerability. The novel abounds with lush descriptions of the rural environment in which the battle takes place. (Scholars believe Crane was inspired by the 1863 Battle of Chancellorsville, a critical episode in the American Civil War that took place in northern Virginia.) When describing the weather at the outset of the novel, Crane writes:
The cold passed reluctantly from the earth, and the retiring fogs revealed an army stretched out on the hills, resting.
By personifying the weather, Crane draws the reader into the scene, presenting reality exactly as it might have appeared to a young soldier like Henry. These descriptions of nature contrast to depictions of the Union and Confederate armies as unnatural or demonic forces. When Henry spots the opposing army’s campfires across a stream, Crane describes them as possessing a “red, eyelike gleam.” Later, he compares Henry’s own regiment to “one of those moving monsters wending with many feet.” As with his descriptions of nature, Crane employs rich figurative language here; but the images he creates are far more disturbing, emphasizing the monstrous nature of war. Initially, the evocative language Crane uses to describe the environment seems to suggest that nature can act as a refuge for traumatized soldiers. But the fact that nature stays serene and beautiful throughout the novel, despite the deadly battles that unfold, ultimately makes a farce of that expectation. Rather, Crane’s depictions of nature show that nature exists separately from the war and is indifferent to human affairs—a key theme of the novel.
Crane uses blunt, if sometimes formal, language to describe Henry’s thoughts. For example, when Henry is reflecting on his conduct in battle at the end of the novel, Crane writes:
He saw that he was good. He recalled with a thrill of joy the respectful comments of his fellows upon his conduct.
This simple prose makes Henry’s perspective immediate to the reader and highlights his youth and naivety: one reason his thoughts can be rendered so clearly is that he’s too young to truly grapple with the complexities of war. By contrast, the movements of troops and the progress of battles remains hazy; like Henry, the reader generally knows little about where the army is going or when the fighting will begin. The deliberately vague style in which Crane renders the military aspect of his novel underscores the brutal chaos, and ultimate pointlessness, of war.
