Critical Reviews of The Red Badge of Courage

Most of the critical review was positive things about what the book was like. Something that I definitely agree with is the figurative language of Stephen Crane's story. Its figurative language was mainly imagery. Imagery is when a story is descriptive. It makes the person feel as if they are actually in the story with the characters. I agree with the critic when he says, "Much of the impact of Red Badge arose, then, from its powerful pictures of war, the images that leapt off the page into the mind of the reader." I think he puts it perfectly when he says that "the images that leapt off the page..." The battle scenes in the book make you feel as if you have a gun yourself and are shooting at the enemy. You feel what Henry is feeling. At the beginning of the book Henry is debating whether to run from the battle or not. As he is going through this psychological debate, the reader feels it as well. Another critic says, "...Frederic expressed admiration for the emotional power of Crane's work..." In the book a good example of this is "Over the river a golden ray of sun came through the hosts of leaden rain clouds" (Crane 100). Human nature is also used in Stephen Crane's book. Critics says, "...his later willingness to do so, punctuate his change in character.", "Henry ultimately finds himself a deeply different person for his experience.", and "Unquestionably, Henry has changed by the novel's end; unquestionably, he had become more courageous and more selfless." All these critics say that Henry's personality changed from the beginnning of the book to the end. One quote in the book says, "He has been to ouch the great death, and found that, after all, it was but the great death. He was a man" (Crane 99). One other thing that the book includes is government. An example is "Come, young man, get up into ranks there. No skulking 'll do here" (Crane 18). This shows how the government is very controlling and dictates what the regiments every move is.
Overall I agree with what the critics say. The book is full of imagery, which is probably my favorite part. It also has other things such as government, human nature, nature, a hero, and an American dream.