Stephen Crane – from The Red Badge of Courage

Religion and government are not at all present in this excerpt. It makes sense that they would not be considering the situation. There is hardly time for anything in a battle, let alone government. The soldiers really probably only had time to say a quick prayer before their attention shifted to survival, and this excerpt is apparently after that time. The American Dream is also not wholly represented in this. The part about gaining glory could be found if you looked hard enough. This man obviously wants to prove himself, and it is driving him crazy that he cannot because apparently he is a coward. Nature is not described in this portion of the novel. This work fits in the Realism period, because it is accurate and historical, and shows how the main character is actually handling what is happening around him and how he is feeling in the very stressful situation. There is also a tone of Naturalism in the excerpt because the main character compares to parts of scientific studies and displays some analytical thinking. There are not really many parts of Regionalism in the story, because there is not a lot of emphasis on the setting and certain places in the story. It also does not promote any places or regions because there is not a lot of that involved in the story. Society does not seem to be a large part of the story either, except for society's interest in science and the workings of the human brain. Still, there is no mention of government, current events of the time period, political or social issues, or other issues of society. There is also nothing to do with religion or God, and does not show how people felt or thought, but rather how frustrated they were with the way they lived and with their imperfections. Being a member of the army during the Civil War, Henry Fleming enters the battle as a regular, run of the mill soldier going in to fight for a brief while and, most likely, die in a few minutes, but he survives much longer; in fact, he sees another brother in arms, the standard bearer, fall and chooses to take his place himself at the front of the front line. In this specific excerpt from Stephen Crane, the main character, Henry Fleming, is already in battle, trying to fight but being stopped by his fears and thoughts. "Presently he began to feel the effects of the war atmosphere - a blistering sweat, a sensation that his eyeballs were about to crack like hot stones. A burning roar filled his ears" (Crane, 493). Stephen Crane is probably one of the best known realism writers. I like his writing style because it is very descriptive but in some places there is a bit to much detail. This excerpt is centering on the main character as he starts to feel an overwhelming feeling of inadequacy it seems. Overall, this was a very good story, at least part of a story.

Crane, Stephen. "from The Red Badge of Courage." Glencoe Literature. Ed. Jeffrey Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Colombus: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 493. Print.