Red-Badge-of-Courage-English-homework-help

Directions: Read the Something New? and other information below and answer the questions marked with an *. 

The Successes and Failures of Chancellorsville by General Alfred Pleasonton, from “The Century Illustrated Monthly” Magazine, May 1886 to October 1886 Pleasonton’s account—like Crane’s—is action-packed and quite specific. Its perspective, however, is wider and it is written in the third person.

Shots were fired at hazard in every direction. The First and Third Virginia regiments, no longer recognizing each other, charge upon each other mutually; Stuart’s mounted men, generally so brave and so steadfast, no longer obey the orders of their officers, and gallop off in great disorder. At last quiet is restored, and the brigade finally reaches Spotsylvania Court House, while the small band which has caused so much alarm to Stuart was quietly retiring to Chancellorsville.

*2. Which passage below comes closest to giving the reader the feeling he is actually experiencing the event? In what ways?

A Blow-by-Blow Description

Locate a brief passage (about a paragraph) from The Red Badge of Courage that offers a blow-by-blow description of events in a battle. Contrast it with the letter from Peter Boyer to his father, written sometime in May 1863, which summarizes the letter this way: “Boyer provides a description of the Chancellorsville battle in Virginia.” Boyer relates an experience that happened in “the thickest of the fight.” 

*3. What do we learn from Boyer about “the thickest of the fight?” 

*4. What do we learn from Crane’s passage?

Vivid Imagery

Locate a brief passage (about a paragraph in length) from The Red Badge of Couragethat offers vivid imagery to describe events in a battle. Contrast it with The Artillery at Hazel Grove, a description of one small part of the Chancellorsville battle that emphasizes military strategy.  The Artillery at Hazel Grove is very specific in its description of the movements of troops and equipment. 

*5. What is the purpose of the writer’s actions during the Chancellorsville battle? 

*6. What is Crane’s purpose? (author’s purpose)

*7. How does each passage differ in its effect on the reader?

A Minimum of Linking Narrative

Locate a brief passage (about a paragraph in length) from The Red Badge of Couragethat describes the course of an assault using details and mental associations rather than factual or realistic  representation. Contrast it with the following excerpt (written in the first person) from “Chancellorsville,” a first-hand account of the battle from the Confederate point of view, from Chapter VIII of Reminiscences of the Civil War by John B.Gordon.

While the battle was progressing at Chancellorsville, near which point Lee’s left rested, his right extended to or near Fredericksburg. Early’s division held this position, and my brigade the right of that division; and it was determined that General Early should attempt, near sunrise, to retake the fort on Marye’s Heights, from which the Confederates had been driven the day before. I was ordered to move with this new brigade, with which I had never been in battle, and to lead in that assault; at least, such was my interpretation of the order as it reached me. Whether it was my fault or the fault of the wording of the order itself, I am not able to say; but there was a serious misunderstanding about it. My brigade was intended, as it afterward appeared, to be only a portion of the attacking force, whereas I had understood the order to direct me to proceed at once to the assault upon the fort; and I proceeded. As I was officially a comparative stranger to the men of this brigade, I said in a few sentences to them that we should know each other better when the battle of the day was over; that I trusted we should go together into that fort, and that if there were a man in the brigade who did not wish to go with us, I would excuse him if he would step to the front and make himself known. Of course, there was no man found who desired to be excused, and I then announced that every man in that splendid brigade of Georgians had thus declared his purpose to go into the fortress. They answered this announcement by a prolonged and thrilling shout, and moved briskly to the attack. When we were under full headway and under fire from the heights, I received an order to halt, with the explanation that the other troops were to unite in the assault; but the order had come too late. My men were already under heavy fire and were nearing the fort. They were rushing upon it with tremendous impetuosity. I replied to the order that it was too late to halt then, and that a few minutes more would decide the result of the charge. General Early playfully but earnestly remarked, after the fort was taken, that success had saved me from being court-martialed for disobedience to orders.

*8. What is the purpose of Gordon’s account? 

*9. What is the purpose of Crane’s account?

In the Style of Documentary Reportage

Locate a brief passage (about a paragraph in length) from The Red Badge of Couragethat offers writing in the style of documentary reportage (a kind of “you are there” approach that recounts events by letting people and events speak for themselves through the liberal use of quotations, a focus on details, and a lack of commentary). Compare it to the following excerpt from an English journalist’s reports about the Union troops at the Battle of Bull Run, on Page 741 of Recollections of the Civil War – V by Sir William Howard Russell, Ll.D., Special Correspondent of “The Times” (London).  .

At that very moment Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Seward were passing through the ruc’k of the straggling debris. The President soon had a striking proof of the terrible disorganization. An officer of the regular army was endeavoring to get the crowd in Fort Corcoran into order. He was menaced with death, because he threatened to have an officer of the Sixty-ninth shot for disobeying his orders.

The men of the battalion rushed to the President and complained that Sherman—for it was he—had insulted their officer. When the President inquired into the cause of the tumult Sherman replied: “I told the officer that if he refused to obey my orders I would shoot him on the spot! I repeat it now, sir; if I remain in command here, and any man refuses to obey my orders, I will shoot him on the spot.” This firmness in the presence of the President overawed the mutineers, and they set about the work that Sherman had ordered them to execute.

*10. How do the passages resemble one another? In other words, what do these passages have in common? This is a comparison, in which you must identify commonalities between the two passages.

*11. What differences are found? In other words, how are these passages different? This is a contrast, in which you must identify differences between the two passages.

*12. A Day in the Life of _______

Create a first-person account that employs the basic stylistic characteristics of The Red Badge of Courage. Begin with a series of five or more images about a specific event: original sketches, family photographs, historical images, or images from magazines and newspapers. Then create your own illustrated, impressionistic account of a particular event.  Your event should be a minimum of 200 words.

*13. It is generally accepted that Crane’s purpose in The Red Badge of Courage was to communicate a complete and realistic picture of one soldier’s experience of battle. Describe how he accomplishes this.

 

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