Realism Project: Stephen Crane

Stephen Crane was born six years after the Civil War ended, but he commonly used it as his story topic. Stephen Crane was a naturalist, and thought that the stronger ones would survive, and the weak would not. One of his books that demonstrates this is "The Red Badge of Courage." "The Red Badge of Courage" is about a young recruit in the Civil War, who deals with the war in a very brave and courageous manner. The next small passage describes his first battle. "Presently he began to feel the effects of the war atmospher--a blistering sweat, a sensation that his eyeballs were about to crack like hot stones. A burning roar filled his ears...He craved a power that would enable him to make a world-sweeping gesture and brush all back. His impotency appeared to him, and made his rage into that of a driven beast. Buried in the smoke of many rifles his anger was directed not so much against the men whom he knew were rushing toward him as against the swirling battle phantoms which were choking him, stuffing their smoke robes down his parched throat." (Crane, 493)

In this small excerpt of "The Red Badge of Courage," by Stepen Crane, there are many examples of both realism and naturalism. The topic of the story deals with the Civil War, a real historic event of the United States of America. Therefore, it is realism, because it uses real events to create the story. It is also considered realism, because the hero of the story is a soldier Henry Fleming, recently recruited. Heros of the realism literary period were often average people in average life experiences. In "The Red Badge of Courage," the hero is the average soldier, a recruit, and a normal person. It is not a hero like Superman or Batman or an amazingly talented super person. It is just the average person, because it was the person his or herself who made themselves better, who became the hero through their own accord. This is why it fits into the realism literary category.

However, Stephen Crane's book, "The Red Badge of Courage," can also be put into a more specific sub category of the realism liteary category. It can be classified as naturalism as well. This is because, the story is gloomy and very descriptive of the battles. Also, it shows his courage and his strength and his will to survive and to win and to keep going even when the odds are against him. The battle does not scare him; rather it infuriates him and causes him to want to dominate and to succeed. This shows naturalism, because Henry Fleming does not shy away; he shows strength and courage and bravery, and because of this survives. The "fittest" will survive, and in this novel, "The Red Badge of Courage," Henry Fleming, the hero, shows that he is the "fittest," and he will survive and prevail. This is what puts this story into the naturalism literary sub genre of the realism literary period.

Works Cited

Crane, Stephen. "The Red Badge of Courage." Glencoe American Literature. comp. Wilhelm, Jeffery. McGraw Hill. Columbus, OH. 2009. pg. 493.