Red Badge of Courage

Throughout the novel Red Badge of Courage, we are constantly being reminded of a general theme of naturalism. The entire novel is a struggle by Henry to grow as a person and attempt to find satisfaction in the person that he has become. Henry has gone to battle not only to fight for the cause, but also to grow as a person. There are many actions that Henry performs which do not fulfill the expectations that he has for himself. This becomes very difficult for Henry to cope with and therefore he looks for justification in his actions. Henry attempts to use the nature around him to give himself justification for his actions, which conforms to the theme of the novel and Crane’s use of naturalism and how Henry looks to nature as a model for his actions.

According to Professor Novaks’ lecture, naturalism is a form of realism in which authors present their work as a scientific observation of a world in which people’s acts are strictly determined by their nature and the nature of their surroundings. In Chapter 7 after Henry had run from a battle, he was attempting to find some sort of resolution for his actions when he sees a squirrel and throws a pinecone at it. He then says:

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Some common words found in the essay are:
Professor Novaks, Crane Henry, Henry Henry, Badge Courage, henry feels, fine bitterness, Courage Throughout, nature ready, red badge courage, filled fine bitterness, Red Badge, nature ready kill, actions henry, forest chapel, green doors, henry run battle, faced danger, kill henry, battle fight, hostility resistance,
Approximate Word count = 1328
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)