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Irony
Definition of Metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor can be stated explicitly, as... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other... read full definition
Key Examples in The Red Badge of Courage
Metaphors
Explanation and Analysis—"Thought-Pictures":
Crane often uses metaphor to compare Henry’s thoughts to images or pictures, expressing the complex but confused nature of his inner life.
This metaphor is first evident when Crane describes Henry’s misconception of war as exciting and heroic, a belief formed from his limited understanding of history and classic literature like the poems of Homer. Here, Crane sums up Henry’s hazy knowledge of the past as “thought-images of heavy crowns and high castles." Henry’s ideas about what he might accomplish are “large pictures extravagant in color, lurid with breathless deeds.” Just like his grasp on the past, Henry’s hopes for the future are hazy and imagistic, more like a picture than the explicit thoughts that Crane summarizes elsewhere in the book.
Related Themes:
Chapter 9
Explanation and Analysis—The Red Badge of Courage:
The “red badge of courage,” a metaphor that gives the novel its title, refers to the bleeding wounds that soldiers sustain during battle. Crane uses this metaphor to describe Henry’s feelings when, having fled the scene of his first battle, he ends up walking alongside a convoy of wounded Union soldiers:
Unlock with LitCharts A+At times he regarded the wounded soldiers in an envious way. He conceived persons with torn bodies to be peculiarly happy. He wished that he, too, had a wound, a red badge of courage.
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Chapter 19
Explanation and Analysis—The Monolithic Army:
When describing the way Henry’s regiment marches across the landscape and moves in battle, Crane uses an extended metaphor to describe a group composed of hundreds of men as a single being. As the Confederate army approaches, Crane writes that “the sore joints of the regiment creaked as it painfully floundered into position to repulse.” Elsewhere, Crane remarks that the regiment “snorted and blew,” evoking a horse rather than a group of men. During one of the novel’s last battles, Crane describes a charge by writing:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The line fell slowly forward like a toppling wall, and, with a convulsive gasp that was intended for a cheer, the regiment began its journey.
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