The Red Badge Of Courage Rhetorical Analysis

Lexy Levian

Mrs. Newborn

AP English

26 Aug 2014 Summer Reading Journal

1. The Red Badge of Courage and The Things They Carried definitely differ with regard to their narrative voices. In the Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane, Henry’s thoughts and imagination serve as the foundation for the story that it told in the first person. The narrative voice is a bit confusing because the story is being told as a reflection on Henry’s own interpretations and the way he sees things in his mind. We thus lack knowledge of any of the other’s characters thoughts or feelings. The narration makes it difficult for the reader to detect which of Henry’s perceptions and remarks are accurate, and which are instead influenced by others factors

Henry’s motivation for being at war surely differs from Tim’s motivation for being at war. Henry’s thoughts give us insight into his motives as to serving in war; he doesn’t value the moral reasons for serving in the war. Instead, Henry is very motivated to acquire a praiseworthy reputation as a war hero. In order to boost his own self-esteem when running away from the battle, Henry actually criticizes and mocks those who decided to stay. Returning to camp, Henry lies about how he got the wound that he has. Henry continuously acts pompous, and acts as if he is entitled to praise for his war heroism. Later, though, Henry redeems himself when he is deeply involved in a battle, and explains that he no longer is seeking praise for his war efforts. He is then, ironically, praised for being one of the best in the regiment. Throughout the novel, we see Henry’s growth and how he actually learns from his mistakes. Tim O’Brien received a full scholarship to study at Harvard, when receiving a draft notice that he was selected to serve in the army. He, in contrast to Henry, decided to go to war because he didn’t want to seem weak in deciding to do otherwise considering that others such as Rat Kiley, Azar, Kiowa, and Sanders have already spent some time in Vietnam. He also is influenced to participate in the war because he believes that in doing so, he will be helping his family and

Passages to be discussed:

A). The Red Badge of Courage:

Chapter 2: (Page 17) “He felt alone in space when his injured comrade had disappeared. His failure to discover any mite of resemblance in their viewpoints made him more miserable than before. No one seemed to be wrestling with a terrific problem. He was a mental outcast.”

In this chapter, Henry asks Wilson if he’s going to run, and explains that many good men end up running away. On that same page, Crane describes how Henry felt at this moment as seen in the quote above. Henry feels like a “mental outcast” at this point because he worries of what will happen if he feels the urge to run. The quotes above foreshadows the later instance where Henry runs away.

Chapter 8: (Page 48). Presently he proceeded again on his forward way. The battle was the grinding of an immense and terrible machine to him. The complexities and powers, its grim processes, fascinated him. He must go close and see it produce corpses

The imagery in the quote above is quite interesting. I could almost hear the battle from Crane’s description of it as a “grinding