Use Of Imagery In The Red Badge Of Courage

Crane's Novella

(An analysis of Stephen Crane's Literature)

Stephen Crane wrote two stories about war they are An Episode of War and The Red Badge of Courage. The novella The Red Badge of Courage can be read at many levels ranging from middle school to college level. Since these writings can be read at many different levels the language Crane uses has to be difficult, but understandable. The reader can tell how good the writer is by the level of reading and understanding that they can see the author is offering. For instance a reader in middle school may say that The Red Badge of Courage is just about war, but a person that is getting he or she's PHD they will see it in more depth than just war. Anyone can write a story, but only certain individuals

can write well written ones. Crane is one of those great writers. He knew how to put his book into words and phrases that persons of many ages would understand. Crane died early on from many different diseases. The diseases are stated in this biography, “he had contracted everything from malaria to yellow fever during his Bowery years and time as a war correspondent” (Biography). This quote shows the diseases, but later on in the biography it says he was only 28 when he died. He was young when he wrote this great literature. In Crane's An Episode of War and The Red Badge of Courage he uses diction, emotional appeal, and good imagery.
An Episode of War and The Red Badge of Courage both are written with good language and diction. In the 2009 Webster Dictionary it states that diction means, “the choice and use of words and phrases in speech or writing” (Dictionary). In The Red Badge of Courage his diction is a little hard to understand, but it is really well done. He makes his language harder to understand so that you will study it more, instead of reading right through it. He doesn't necessarily use difficult words. He just uses difficult phrases. So he phrases his words in a way the reader will have to read a little slower to understand. This kind of writing is actually useful, especially for PHD personnel because they don't have to read a necessarily hard book, but well thought through book. So they can really study it. An example of good diction in The Red Badge of Courage is, “He became aware that the furnace roar of the battle was growing louder.” This quote from the novella is an example of good diction because Crane uses a good choice in words and he phrased them so that the reader can read it with little difficulty.
An Episode of War also uses good diction. Crane uses diction a little differently in this story. He doesn't necessarily make it easy or hard to read, instead he focuses more on the content. Consequential to the fact that he is focusing on the content is that he puts in a lot of metaphors. One in particular, “It is as if he wounded man's hand is upon the curtain which hangs before the revelations of all existence.” This quote from the story just puts into perspective what his diction is. Although it may be in more metaphors, the metaphors are not as hard as the reader might think to understand. This one in particular means that the wound is a symbol of dignity in war.
Emotional appeal is present in both An Episode of War and The Red Badge of Courage. An Episode of War presents good emotional appeal, especially because it is about war. War always rises up emotions from the readers. Dr. Clare Makepeace tries to some up the emotions many feel in war, “Anger, love, grief, guilt, shame, fear, hatred, joy, jealous . . . it is impossible to look at individuals’ experiences of war without thinking about these emotions” (Makepeace). These emotions are real, and Crane does a good job of bringing them up in these particular pieces of literature. A short excerpt from this story that shows a little emotion from the lieutenant is this, “An aide galloped furiously, dragged his horse suddenly to a halt.” This excerpt from the story shows, although little, intense emotion from a wounded lieutenant. This is just the tip of the iceberg there is so much more emotion that the reader will feel by reading this.
Emotional appeal also is present in The Red Badge of Courage. Unlike An Episode of War, The Red Badge of Courage is about a youth's emotions and thoughts, not a lieutenant who has had more experience. This changes the way it is put into emotion. This is why this book is good for all ages, especially youth. It puts it in a perspective they can understand and it helps the reader to connect more with what is going on in the story. So that helps it out a lot. One thing in the novella that really sticks out, and that Stephen Crane wants the reader to see is that Henry says that war is bad. He also says that even though it is gruesome it made him a man. “He had been to touch the great death, and found that, after all, it was but the great death and was for others. He was a man.” This quote reinforces the fact that it might have been gruesome, but it was worth it for becoming the man he wanted to be.
In Crane's The Red Badge of Courage and An Episode of War he uses good imagery.

Imagery is one thing that is hard to put into words when persons are trying to write literature. It is hard to capture the image you are trying to present. In The Red Badge of Courage imagery is one of the most important parts of this novella. If imagery wasn't present this story would be worthless. If the reader can't produce and image in his or her mind then the story will mean nothing to them. This is because they can't produce a personal connection to the story itself. A writer puts it plainly, “Descriptive writing is writing which utilizes imagery, or word pictures, to more fully engage the reader” (Hubpages). This quote shows that you are not a descriptive writer if you don't use imagery. Imagery if nothing else helps tell the story by itself. It puts the reader in the main characters spot. He or she can imagine what it is like in the character's life. In The Red Badge of Courage Henry is the main character. The reader is trying to find a connection with him. A good place to do that is in this quote from the novella, “The youth thought of the village street at home before the arrival of the circus parade on a day in the spring.” This quote paints a picture in the reader's mind of what his street looked

like.
Imagery is also present in An Episode of War. An Episode of War if nothing else puts an image of war in the reader's head. It shows him or her how brutal it can be. If nothing else war is terrible. It can be good if the government wants money or more land, but this shows how terrible it is. The soldier is taking away somebody's right to live. If he or she has never thought about that, this story will be a great eye opener for them. This is because of the great imagery it shows. Edward Atkinson puts the brutality of war into words when he says, “Lying, cheating, ambushing, and stabbing in the back were deemed the acts of cowards and assassins” (Atkinson). This just shows that soldiers were brutal when attacking others. This story shows it plainly.
An Episode of War and The Red Badge of Courage both show present signs of diction, emotional appeal, and imagery. They both equally in their ways showed these great skills in the stories. Stephen Crane knew what he was doing when he started writing these. Although he had never seen or experienced any kind of war, he got what they did spot on. Many say that he must have studied about it a lot, but really war is plain to see. It is self explanatory. It is black and white. Anyone can guess what happens in it, and what goes on. The soldiers are fighting for their rights and that is a good reason, but it is gruesome and brutal. This doesn't mean it is all bad. In The Red Badge of Courage Henry even says that he became a man from being in war. Although it was brutal and he didn't like it at first or ever, he learned important lessons, and that is what is important about war. The soldiers learn important life lessons that he or she could not learn anywhere else.