Describe the elements of death
Describe the elements of deathDescribe the elements of war and death in Stephen Crane’s The Red
Badge of Courage. This book is divided into two parts. In the first part the main
characters, Henry Flemings. illusions disappear when confronted by the reality of
battle(WAH 642). During the first battle he sees vague figures before him, but
they are driven away. In the next battle he is so frightened that he runs away
becoming one of the first heroes in literature to actually desert his fellow soldiers
in the field.
While Henry is separated from his fellow soldiers, he
wanders through the forest. There he experiences the kind of
illusions that predominate in all of the writings of Crane (WAH
642). First he tells himself that nature does not blame him for
running. Next he finds himself in a part of the woods that he
believes is religious. The insects are praying and the forest
takes the appearance of a chapel. Henry is comfortable with this
until he finds a dead soldier in the heart of the “chapel”.
Henry sees an ant carrying a bundle across the face of the dead
soldier. That view is beautiful in the sense of conveying great
emotion through minute detail(WAH 643). As he moves back henry
sees a line of injured soldiers including his friend Jim
Conklin,who is badly wounded and another friend called “the
tattered man”. Trying to make up for deserting his friends, Henry
tries to help Jim Conklin who is dying.After Conklin dies, the
tattered man probes deeply into Henry’s conscience by repeatedly
asking “where ya hit”(Bowers 132). Henry deserts the tattered
man.
When Henry stops another soldier he asks him the novels most
important question which is “why” The soldier hits henry on the
head for starting trouble. Ironically...
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