Saturday, July 20, 2019
Free Essays - Boys to Men in The Red Badge of Courage :: The Red Badge of Courage
Boys to Men in Red Badge of Courage   The Civil War took more American lives than any other war in history. It divided the people of the United States, so that in many families brother fought brother. The four years of bloodshed left a legacy of grief and bitterness that remains in part even today. The war started on April twelfth, 1861 in Charleston, South Carolina. It ended four years later on April ninth, 1865. Many people call this tragic conflict the War Between the States, the War of the Rebellion, the War of the Secession, or the War for southern Independence. But regardless of what it is called, the war was a great turning point in American history.            What is so interesting about Crane's Red Badge of Courage? I found out that war turns boys into mature men, the real dialect and slang used during the war, and what it's like to be a soldier in the Civil War.            The whole novel covers only two days in the life of Henry Flemming, the main character. In that amount of time, war can turn a boy into a man. It does not physically turn an individual into a grown man, but it mentally matures them. War matures boys into a men is by experiencing new, unpredictable environments and adjusting to unfamiliar smells, sounds, and emotions. Think about it, being there on a battlefield witnessing deaths of friends and comrades would have to have an effect on a human being. Being in a war and to be around new faces, new personalities, confusion, and trauma would force one to adapt to an environment faster than you usually would. Just imagine leaving your country home and entering a new and frightening world on a battlefield. What can make one a hero or a coward? Fears, emotions, thoughts, and feelings can be the factors that contribute towards the struggle. As I read this novel I lived not only Henry's actions, but also his individual thoughts and feelings.There was shootin' here an' shootin' there, an' hollerin' here and hollerin' there, in th' damn darkness, until I couldn't tell t' save m' soul which side I was on (p.136, Crane).            By utilizing the soldiers talking in a dialect that was common during the war and using slang to represent certain words reflected the authors' emphasis on realism and descriptiveness.
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