Was written by Stephen Crane and is a story about a young boy who signs up for the northern Union army during the Civil War of the United States in order to fight against the southern Confederate troops. It is often seen as the journey from boyhood to manhood, seeing as Henry Flemmings (the youth) must charge through the idea of mortality, true heroism, and monsters.

Red is often seen as several emotions throughout Henry's journey and is mostly attached to the more passionate emotion. Many times the "red animal" (Red Badge, 433) overcomes a man and turns him into a brute. Red is often associated with rage, anger, and hate. The "red sickness of war" relates to the heat of the battle, the blood boiling, and the chaos that ensues (Red Badge, 538).

Yellow comes with multiple meanings. Henry's mother cast a "yellow light" upon his ambitions to enlist, warning him about the dangers of war and leaving the farm (Red Badge, 414). At the same time, yellow continues to have its historical meanings such as cowardly. This warning could also be seen as being cowardly as it tries to persuade young Henry to not join the war.

When Wilson gives the letter to Henry in the assumption that he is going to die, they are yellow (Red Badge, 437). Wilson is seen as brave and in Henry's mind should survive the war. If Wilson believes that his own time has come, then what chance does Henry have at surviving the war?

Though Wilson survives, another soldier is killed and his red life has turned into "an appalling yellow" this act of death befalls a fellow soldier is a reminder to Henry of his own mortality. Originally, Henry thought he was invincible (like most teenagers) and believes he will not die. In seeing death occur around him shows him that he is not immortal and is rather insignificant.

Gray uniforms belong to the Rebel Confederate Army. The rebels were seen as the death of the nation, being the secessionist and the starters of the war. The death often rushes upon the living troops and seems to surround them at points. Jim is seen as going "stonily" to his death and the skin of the dead becomes gray.

Blue belongs to the union coats. Water is often pictured as being blue and is the life of all things. Therefore, the meaning associated with the blue of the Northern uniforms is opposite of that of its brethren the South's death: life. The dead soldiers uniform had once been blue, just as he had once been full of life, but now it had faded to gray: death. The blue also moves and is brittle, just as life moves on and can be seen as an easily broken thing.

Rationale:
Looking at a different part of the wiki now, the colors were a favorite to look at when reading The Red Badge of Courage. I thought that categorizing blue, gray, and red added to the idea of war having two sides but then the yellow enter the scene with its multiple meanings, and played with the idea that maybe war was more than death and life. In using the primary colors, I thought it was interesting that death was not given to one, but was instead given a color completely to itself. It was as if Crane was separating death from the men, though it surrounded them and they wore it, and it became an entity of its own. While red turned out to be the stronger emotions, blue was life, and yellow seemed to be the cycle of life. Yellow was associated with both death and life as well as warnings and fear, making it almost like a human itself. However, all these colors were associated with each other and made the imagery come alive.


In both the Red Badge of Courage and "The Monster", Crane constantly brings up the question of who really is the monster. Is it society, the creator, or creation? "The composite monster which had caused the troops to flee had then not appeared"(Red Badge, 440). Composite as in different parts to make a whole, meaning that there are different parts to this monster that need to be taken into consideration.

War is simply not the monster, but man is as well. Man declares war and war has two sides to it: the good and the bad. The problem is, each side believes that they are both good and fighting for the right thing. This leads to group-think. Group-think often leads to overly active egos and those associated within the group create gross exaggerations of those not within that particular group and is hence, the social monster.

"The Monster" by Stephen Crane left me pondering: how could a society label someone like Henry such a horrid name? Couldn't they see that he deserved to live, even if he was misshapen and different? Why wouldn't they just let the issue die instead of bringing it up constantly? Then I stopped and realized that these questions, as well as others like them, can be answered when someone looks at the social side of humanity. Historically we have always been able to persuade others into thinking just like us and following our ideas for better or for worse.

Look at the Holocaust, the Cambodian killing fields, and the Rape of Nijiing. Humans create the idea of superiority constantly, and fight over it just as much. How do we get swept away by such passions?

Then it hit: group think. If someone can get enough people to believe in something, all they have to do is let schema make up the incidents and fill in the blanks. Those who try to oppose the group are seen as lesser beings and as enemies and are no longer human.

Interestingly enough, this also happens during war, which links Crane's The Red Badge of Courage to "The Monster". Humans are no longer seen as human for either side. One side becomes "good" while the other becomes "bad"; the "in" and the "out" groups have been formed. The Allies vs. the Axis, the Union vs. the Confederates, and even the Cougars vs. the Huskies are examples of names given to the "in" and "out". The out group is slowly moved down the social ladder until they are no longer human. This type of thinking is what allows for Henry Johnson to become a monster as well for Henry the youth to see that both the gray and the blue are monsters in themselves.

Originally, I had though to connect both stories psychologically. However, seeing as though I only have only dipped my toes into the political science side of such matters, I could not have done the topic justice. So, I began to read and re-read both tales, seeing what popped up or seemed to be a theme. I was surprised to find that both not only had monsters, but different forms and types of monsters: war, man, and the social monster.

I am used to seeing different monsters being like dragons, goblins, and boogiemen, but Stephen Crane has shown that there are more than just that, and most of them are man-made. This makes it somewhat harder to separate them, but it also adds to complexity to the issues dealing with monsters: who is really responsible for them and what are they?


http://www.online-literature.com/crane/

http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/crane/index.html

http://maggie-crane.pbwiki.com/

Rationale: Most of this wiki page consists of my own analysis of the ideas portrayed in "The Monster" and The Red Badge of Courage. However, the links that are added are for those people who stumble across this analysis and wish to know about Crane (the Stephen Crane Society). There are two links that I feel are important to Crane and this wiki: Andrea's "Monster" page and Kim's "Maggie". As Andrea has discussed the supposed origins and the ideas associated with the "monster" it would be appropriate to include seeing as I have divided the monsters. I do not know, however, if she will have the site up by the time I am able to get the link, and therefore, that specific link will be late. Kim however, addresses Crane's views toward his own book "Maggie" and I wanted to give others a chance to look into another one of Crane's writing, which touches on similar monsters within the text (though Kim does not focus on this as it is not her topic of choice).


References

Crane, Stephen. The Red Badge of Courage: and selected prose and poetry. 3rd. New York: Rinehart Editions, 1968.

Crane, Stephen. Maggie: Girl of the Streets and other short fiction. New York: Bantam Dell, 1986.