Stephen Cranes Red Badge of Courage Essay -- Stephen Crane Red Badge

Stephen cranes Red Badge of CourageWhen reading the Red Badge of Courage, it is necessary to show the symbolism that Stephen Crane has created throughout the whole book. Without pick uping the true intent of dissimulation use, this book loses a meaningful interpretation that is needed to truly understand the main character, his feelings and actions. Crane uses very distinct colorise in his text to represent various elements that the main character, atomic number 1 or the youth, is feeling on his adventure of enlisting into battle. Red, chicken and gray are the main colors Crane uses consistently in the majority of the chapters to describe hydrogens inner conflicts and feelings. The color purple is mentioned very briefly but reflects Henrys feelings in a powerful manner. Certain colors dominate throughout the book and in that respect is a change of domination as Henry matures into a real soldier.The color yellow, when mentioned in the text, represents Henry feeling like a co ward and knowing his actions were cowardly. Crane uses the color yellow more in the start out as Henry was just learning to become a soldier. As the book goes on and Henry matures, the color yellow is not mentioned as often. The color yellow appears in the first chapter when Henrys mother states that enlisting is a bad idea. He feels his mothers words were putting a yellow light upon the color of his ambitions. This is a significant statement because at this point in the book, Henrys cowardliness has not yet emerged and his only visions of battle are of him becoming a brave, battleric soldier. Henrys feelings switch from confidence to cowardice as he runs away from his very first battle. When he looks back at the battlefield with shame, he can see nothing but yellow fog. Crane intended this yellow fog to represent Henrys feelings of cowardice after running from his first opportunity of battle. The color yellow appears once more in chapter nineteen, as Henry is about to face anoth er battle. The guns that are fired are described as having a yellow flame. This image brings the ratifier back to the fact that Henry still has cowardice feelings about-facing this battle even though his actions may be contradicting. The color red takes on various contexts in this book and is often used when there is some reference to battle, war, and rage. Unlike the color yellow, Crane used the color red... ...nded that war brings about horrible situations and leaves the hardly a(prenominal) surviving with lost loved ones and terrifying memories. The color purple is mentioned only a few times but reflects Henrys feelings at the beginning and the end of the book. This color signifies royalty and honor. In chapter two, when Henry still believes that in the end wholly the men will be honorable brave heros the uniforms are described as being a deep purple. Not till the end of the book in chapter 24 does Crane again use the color purple when he mentions that the fellows marched no w in wide purple and gold to show once again that royalty is present and all that had survived are being now being honored. Throughout the text of the Red Badge of Courage Crane uses but a few specific colors and has significant meaning for each one of them. In order to truly understand and feel what the main characters are feeling, more consequentially Henry, it is extremely important for the reader to comprehend what each color signifies and how it relates to the feelings of Henry and the other characters. Without this type of understanding one can not fully appreciate Cranes writing in the Red Badge of Courage.