《 红色英勇勋章》的文学特征分析

摘    要
本文首先对《红色英勇勋章》中的颜色和动物意象进行分类，然后尝试通过颜色及动物意象的象征意义分析，来展现小说的自然主义特色，阐释克莱恩对战争、人性及人的生存状况的认识，从而说明该小说真正表现的是战争的残忍性，破坏性及无意义性，同时也说明了人在战争环境中的动物性和被动命运。克莱恩正是运用了象征主义的写作手法使得该小说成为美国历史上一部划时代的杰作。

关键词：颜色意象；动物意象；象征意义；自然主义

ABSTRACT
This paper will first classify the color images and animal images in The Red Badge of Courage, then attempts to analyze the symbolic meaning of these color images and animal images so as to express the feature of naturalism, reveal Crane’s conception toward war, human nature and existent condition. Thus a conclusion can be reached that The Red Badge of Courage represents the brutality, destructiveness，and meaninglessness of war, as well as human’s animal instinctive behavior driven by war. It is the use of technique of symbolism that contributes The Red Badge of Courage to be an epoch-making masterpiece in American history.
 
Keywords：color images; animal images; symbolism; naturalism

Contents

1. Introduction…………………………………………………………………………..1
ism-A LiteraryTechnique…………………………………………………... 3
2.1Concept of the Term"Symbolism"……………………………………………………3
2.2The Red Badge of Courage--a Symbolic Novel…………………………………...…4
3. Typical Symbols in The Red Badge of Courage ………………………….………..5
3.1 Color Images……………………………………………………………….………...5
3.1.1The Red Image……………………………………………………………………...5
3.1.2The Black Image……………………………………………………………………6
3.1.3The Blue Image…………………………………………………………………….7
3.1.4The Yellow Image………………………………………………………………….7
3.2 Animal Images…………………………………………………………………….....8
3.2.1The Classification of Animal Images……………………………………………………………8
3.2.2The Symbolic Meaning of Animal Images……………………………………………………...9
sion…………………………………………………………………………...12
Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………14
References……………………………………………………………………………..15

1．Introduction

Stephen Crane is one of the most important novelists in the late 19th century, and he is also a poet, short-story writer, journalist, war correspondent, and called the forerunner of American naturalism, A writer of indisputable genius，Crane died prematurely，but he made great contribution to American literature. Crane left a wealth of work，which w as excellent in itself and had a great impact on the work of other writers. His productions mainly included several novels: Maggie: A Girl of the Streets and The Red Badge of Courage which were the most noted two; two poetry anthologies, The Black Riders and War Is Kind; and a large number of short stories, sketches and news reports, among which the most famous ones were The Open Boat, The Blue Hotel, and The Monster.
  Crane burst into fame with his masterpiece The Red Badge of Courage (1895) at the age of twenty-four. Unique in style and content, the novel explores the emotions of a young Civil War recruit named Henry Fleming. What is most remarkable about this classic is that the twenty-four-year-old author had never witnessed war in his life before writing this book. Crane's story developed to some degree out of his reading of war stories by Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy and the popular memoirs of Civil War veterans, yet he also deviated from these influences in his depiction of war's horror. On its publication, readers on both sides of the Atlantic applauded, praising that The Red Badge of Courage ranks among the foremost literary achievements of the era. It was greeted by what H.G. Wells termed an “orgy of praise”. Roughly speaking, it is considered by many literary critics to be one of the greatest of all American novels. George Wyndham, writing in the New Review, stated, "Mr. Crane has surely contrived a masterpiece."3.
   The plot of the novel is deceptively simple, consisting of a series of episodes during two days when a young Civil War recruit Henry Fleming fights his first battle--episodes ranging from tedium to terror, after which he has changed forever, and from flight to courage. Henry Fleming is an ordinary and inexperienced soldier. He begins with the state of mind of the recruit who is anxious to get into battle so that he may show his patriotism and prove himself a hero. He tries to keep up his spirits during the delay that precedes his suddenly being thrust into the slaughter. Then he is overwhelmed by unthinking fear and runs from the battle. He is ashamed when he joins the wounded, for he has not earned the “red badge of courage”. And he becomes outraged when he witnesses the horrid death of his terribly maimed friend, Jim Conklin. Later, by chance, he gets a minor head wound in a confused struggle with one of the retreating infantrymen of his own army. The next day, when his pretension is accepted that the wound is the result of enemy gunfire, he begins to struggle frantically, and then automatically seizes the regiment’s colors in the charge that reestablishes its reputation. He moves through this sultry nightmare with unconscious heroism, and emerges steady, quiet, and finally becomes truly courageous.
Since it publication, there is a variety of criticism. Traditionally，The Red Badge of Courage was simply and roughly labeled as a realistic or naturalistic work. However，since1950，some scholars began to regard it as a symbolic work. Many articles have been written to analyze the novel from symbolic approaches. In most cases，symbolism is considered to be a technique used by Crane to convey its religious theme. But actually，Crane primarily uses symbolism to express his naturalistic thoughts more effectively, which remains an issue worth furthering study.
As the various colors and animal images are the most striking characteristic of the novel, this thesis aims to make a detailed analysis of the symbolism of the color and animal in The Red Badge of Courage, so as to show that symbolism used by Crane is to better convey his naturalistic ideas as well as to achieve a better understanding and appreciation of the work. Before analyzing symbolism in the work in detail，it is necessary to make a survey of symbolism，one of the literary techniques.

2. Symbolism----A Literary Technique

2.1 The Concept of the Term “Symbolism”
Symbolism in literature appeared in mid 19th century in France, which can be defined as the applied use of symbols. Symbols are things that have a much deeper meaning than what it appears to be. Symbol in literature mainly points at a kind of expressed pattern in literary works，it adopts the metaphor and hint of specific imagination and creation to come into being objective meaning beyond image itself.  In the study of the explanation of literary symbol, Nan Fan，in his article The Symbolic Pattern of the Novel stated，“Symbol is a k ind of representation or implication of certain notion，idea or emotion by some particular concrete images.[3]1 That is to say，in the literature field，symbols are generally material objects or concrete images，for example，animals，plants，colors，natural phenomena，sounds，gestures，actions and so on，created by the writer to suggest something immaterial or abstract，a concept，a notion or emotion. However, the relations between symbols and meanings that the writer try to convey is explicit and abstract, it needs to find or invent certain technique to break the barrier. Symbolism is such a technique to solve this problem, as symbolism is the use of an item that causes the reader to think about what it stands for. The meaning it holds depends on the individual, it could mean different things to different people. The purpose of symbolists is to express the highly complex feelings that grew out during the contact with the world. That is to say, "symbolism" may refer to a way of choosing representative symbols in line with abstract rather than literal properties, allowing for the broader interpretation of a carried meaning than mere literal concept-representations allow. Symbolism，in literature world has been widely used both in ancient and modern times. In American literature，writers frequently use symbolism. For example，Nathaniel Hawthorne  Herman Melville and Edgar Allan Poe are all masters of symbolism. Although we can not make a research on how much Crane was influenced by these writers, we can not deny that living in a country that enjoys the literary tradition of wide use of symbolism，Crane is likely to follow this tradition.
2.2 The Red Badge of Courage --- a Symbolic Novel
For the most part of his masterpiece The Red Badge of Courage, Crane disregards plot and character delineation. Although it is a war novel, about a civil war, it is far beyond being a war novel. Crane never mentions the cause，the reason and the strategies of the war. Therefore，Wilson F. Engel’s statement is significantly right，“The Political，economic，and social dimensions of The Red Badge of Courage are almost non-- existent;”and instead，“Philosophic ideas emerge from The Red Badge of Courage.”[4] intends the novel to embody his philosophic ideas，thus achieving a universal meaning. However, he does not present his philosophy direct, he accomplishes this by the use of technique of symbolism. In the novel，Crane creates a large number of symbolic images, among which the color images and the animal images are most striking. In order to have a better understanding of such images which contain particular meanings, it is necessary to know the author’s philosophic ideas.
Crane is a naturalist. One critic who places Crane in the Naturalistic school is Charles Child Walcutt. In his book American Literary Naturalism: A Divided Stream, Walcutt remarked that Crane "makes us see Henry Fleming as an emotional puppet controlled by whatever sight he sees at the moment." 109. In The Red Badge of Courage，Crane expresses these naturalistic conceptions vividly through symbols.

3. Typical Symbols in The Red Badge of Courage

 Crane employs images abundantly in this novel, most of which reveal Henry’s fear, uncertainty, innocence, and growth as the novel progresses. Image patterns change according to his psychological state. The important images involved in this paper are mainly color images, and animal images, since they appear considerably frequently and reflect the hero’s limited and confused sensations.
3.1Color Images
Crane is painterly concerned with colors, which is influenced by artists, with whom Crane lived in New York in 1893 and 1894. He uses color imagery, both vibrant and subtle, to describe war. His sense of color pervades the work to achieve visual effect. Therefore, when reading the novel The Red Badge of Courage, the readers must have the quick eye for color which is shown on every page, for the color implies not only the surface meaning but the inner significance of its relation to the events and emotions under hand. Roughly speaking, the color images can be divided into four sections: red, black, blue and yellow.
3.1.1The Red Image
The color red reoccurs in the novel, Crane is almost obsessed with red，using this color sixty times. In broad sense it includes red, crimson, lurid, orange, gold, pink and purple. The symbolic meaning of red can be analyzed in three aspects. In the first place, it represents blood, fire and horror. As we all know, red is the color of blood , so the war is depicted as“the red animal”or“the blood-swollen god” several times. Red is also associated with the color of gun powder, Crane frequently employs red, crimson, orange ,brown, pink, lurid to describe fire and flame， for example“great brown clouds”,“pink glare”, “beams of crimson”, “large flashes of orange-colored flame”, “lurid lines, exploded in crimson fury”. In addition, red is referred to the explosive bomb and fierce attack, such as “crimson roar” ,“red cheers”, “a crimson and steel assault”. All these colors add the vividness of bloody battlefield as well as the increasing panic brought by the war. Secondly, Crane employs color red to suggest Henry’s emotions, in particular about his rage and humiliation. When an officer called Henry’s regiment“mule drivers”, he felt shamed, as Crane writes“he had pictured red letters of curious revenge”. At the end of the novel, facing friends caring about the war, “the youth’s reply was an outburst of crimson oaths”.In fact, this reveals the shattering of Henry’s naïve dream of hero and the condemnation of his escaping from the war. Thirdly, the color red is used to show courage, valor and honor. In Henry’s mind，it stands for the wounds received in the war. For instance, when Henry escaped from the battle, and hided in the wounded soldiers, he was quite envious of the wounded,“He wished that he, too, had a wound, a red badge of courage”.Once Henry saw a troop process on, he admired them, imaging himself equipped with weapons and sacrificing on the battlefield. The sight of procession, “made him soar on the red wings of war”. Here the color red suggests honor. When Henry’s nature of animal was stimulated by the cruel war, he was determined to struggle in the war. At that time, Henry had a special feeling toward the flag of army ,“It was a woman, red and white, hating and loving, that called him with the voice of his hopes”.The flag here symbolizes courage and purity, hatred and love, it activated Henry’s valor .At last, Henry recalled his performance in the battlefield, “Those performances...marched in wide purple and gold,...He spent delightful minutes reviewing the gilded images of memory”.Here the color purple and gilded represent glory and lofty. The youth conquered the sense of panic and felt excited and proud.
3.1.2The Black Image
Black is certainly a symbol of death and confusion. As black traditionally implies the“great unknown”, darkness，loneliness，morbidity, etc. Crane always associates it with death，especially during war when people are dying with no one to comfort them and lend a helping hand. For example, during a fight with enemy, a soldier uttered “a black procession of curious oaths”, the soldier’s unconscious oaths and prays expose their instinctive fear of death. Meanwhile, shortly after Henry realized the sickness of war he stood alone outside of the camp. He remained ‘a few paces in the gloom’, a‘mental outcast’. He was‘alone in space’in a‘mood of darkness’[7]4. Crane also uses the color black to represent anger. Henry could hear the guns of the enemy and he imagined them to be“shaking in black rage trying to kill everyone in their path”. With the war going on and the increasing casualty, the soldiers’ fear of enemy and war turned into rage. Such as the description of the face of Henry, “black with rage”,“dark with vexation and wrath”. Here the “black with rage” is the innate reaction of “black of depression”, as in face of death, people tend to become frantic like beasts and to struggle. What’s more, Crane uses the color black to demonstrate confusion and mystery as if one is walking into a pitch -- black room, trying to find the light switch. Black gave Henry a sense of uneasiness when he was in an area not known to him，separated from his regiment. During his search, Henry confronted“ black and monstrous figure，”and mistook it for an enemy soldier，but it was only a soldier of his own reg iment. Thus black is a very mysterious color.
3.1.3The Blue Image
Blue，for Crane，is somewhat a passive color. Blue implies being sad or depressed, carrying connotations of monotony and mindlessness. “Blue，in‘its highest purity，is，as it were，a stimulating negation”45. “Blue” here does not stand for the men’s uniform or Henry’s melancholy and deep thought; it is that of a blue sky, of optimism and tranquility. And Henry felt the peacefulness of nature.
3.1.4The Yellow Image
Yellow, in Goethe’s view, often produces a warm and agreeable sensation unless contaminated by other colors, which then provokes negative feelings of revulsion and impending calamity. For example, “In the eastern sky there was a yellow patch like a rug laid for the feet of the coming sun.”57. Soon after Henry experienced a“yellow discontent” when he realized the gravity of the war and felt a “yellow confusion” at the sight of combat. When Henry run away from battle and found himself in the midst of a“yellow fog,” he was disgusted with himself for his cowardice. Yellow can also mean oncoming death. Guns left ”a dull yellow hue” when fired，showing that death is about to take place.
Through out the novel，Crane uses the colors of red，black，gray，yellow，green，blue and so on mainly to symbolically represent the young soldier’s emotional state and to transmit experience directly to the reader so as to make a more vivid picture of the war. Just as Thomas Daniel maintains that Crane’s attempt in The Red Badge of Courage is to “make every page blaze with color, in order to affect the mind through the eye. It is all very interesting. Every page is painted, perhaps I should say saturated, with this intensity of color.” [11]6.
3.2Animal Images
3.2.1The Classification of Animal Images
In The Red Badge of Courage，besides the striking color imagery，animal images are also applied abundantly. As we all know, animals have the tendency to behave instinctively, without reasoning, and they also have the nature of brutality. “However unaware Crane have been of the abundance and  patterning of this imagery，the consistence with which it is used often furthers his characterization and presentation of ideas, and constitutes a significant method of communicating   meaning.”[10]ore, the employment of numerous animal images in novel demonstrates the brutality destructiveness，and meaninglessness of war, suggesting that in the battlefield soldiers sometimes lose their senses and human character, behaving instinctively in the lowly an animal-like state. In the novel, except for the m etaphors about the animal acts, Crane uses at least 80 animal imageries or figures [12]63. They appeared sometimes in the plot, or in dialogues, or in the hero’s mental world. In the novel, the animal imageries can be grossly classified into the following four groups: domestic fowls and animals; beasts; imagined animals; indescribable animal figures. Among them, the first group appeared far more times, except for quite few instances, they were used to describe human beings instead of objects, soldiers instead of officers. Beast images were used to depict objects and human beings. The imagined animal images and those indescribable animal figures were mainly used for the groups in the war.
3.2.2The Symbolic Meaning of Animal Images
The symbolic meaning of these animal images can be analyzed from different aspects. Firstly, Crane uses animal images to compare to war and expose the brutality of war. In the novel, “the red animal” “monster” “dragons” etc are used several times to indicate the nature of war evils and horrors. For instance, ”the red animal”, ”the blood-swollen god” is obviously to suggest that war，like the bloody and brutal animal，would devour men. This image is supported through the novel by similes and metaphors, which compares war to a monster，serpent or dragon for more than twenty times，for example, on the march at night Henry perceived the enemy campfire as“the red eyes…of a row of dragons”; when Henry returned to his tent in the darkness，“he admitted that he would not be able to cope with this monster.” The regiment looked like “one of those moving monsters，or“ crawling reptiles.” Therefore it fully showed Henry and other soldiers were always struggling under the terror of war. In Henry’s eyes, the troops were also like “dragon, monster, reptile, serpent, snake”. All these similes and metaphors demonstrate that Crane makes no effort to characterize war as noble, death as glorious, or soldiers as particularly brave or admirable. Instead, he puts emphasis on the destructiveness of war，and the war here in the novel is nothing but an animal that drinks human blood and eats their flesh. Thus Crane succeeds in conveying his conceptions of war and shows men are overwhelmed by the cruelty of war.
More importantly, Crane employs animal images to reveal the behavior and interior activity of soldiers, especially the interior life of a young man, Henry Fleming, who is in turn confused, terrified, humiliated and, ultimately, matured by his exposure to the pitched battle. Just as Guo Qiqing stated it, “the author uses these animal images to represent behavior and the psychology of the hero, Henry, in different stages of the war.”05 In the later chapters when Henry overcame his fear, Crane employs other animal images like wolf, leopard, dragon and snake, etc. standing for wild courage and fierceness of the soldiers，who were impelled by an unconscious drive towards glory. After Henry and his regiment had participated successfully in a battle，they were described by the lieutenant as having fought like “ hell一roosters” and “wild cats”. Henry plunged at the enemy flag like a “mad horse.” Henry noticed the enemy’s“vicious wolf-like temper.” Wilson，Henry’s friend，sprang“as a panther at prey”. In triumph the soldiers flied like“eagles.”At that time, for Henry and his comrades，the enemies were dragons，and it was a comfort for them to discover that the dragons did not always“sting with precision.” At the end of the story, the lieutenant, Henry, was a larger, less vulnerable fish—a “whale”. From above analysis, we know whether they are compared to a terrified animal or a fierce animal，after all they are nothing more than animals. The animal images demonstrate both the unconscious drive towards glory and the threat of death ,which are at the center of Henry’s mind，and his companion’s as well. All in all, these images of animals present a feeling that human beings at war can feel nothing but aimless fear and fury or excitement and madness, possessed by animal instincts, lacking the human senses.
According to above noted, now it is clear to the reader of the book that the use of animal images accompanies the whole process of Henry’s growth in the novel from a coward to a brave hero in the cruel war. Fear makes him a yellow domestic fowl or animal and aimless fury makes him a violent beast. In the war, whether it is a success or a failure, the soldiers involved in it don’t know for what they are fighting, and they just act to their instincts. When defeated, they are as yellow as chicks, and in success, they are crazy like beasts. In the novel, the war is described as “red animal” on some occasions, and red symbolizes blood. Therefore, the war here in the novel is nothing but an animal that drinks human blood and eats their flesh. This also expresses Crane’s naturalistic view.
In short，the employment of images is an important unifying device in The Red Badge of Courage and pervades the whole novel. Those disconnected images add vividness and attractiveness to the novel，and more importantly become components of psychological revelation of the protagonist Henry，and coalesce into the significant thematic suggestions. Every disconnected image has inter-relationship to the organic whole，describing Henry’s mental condition at a given moment，thus revealing his fear，uncertainty，innocence，and growth as the novel progresses and meanwhile representing the brutality，confusion，and meaninglessness of war.

5．Conclusion

From above analysis, we have a better understanding that in this novel the author not only captures the disorientation and chaos of the battlefield, but also explores Henry Fleming’s emotions in the two-day battle and his struggle with his inner demons. And though The Red Badge of Courage is a long tradition of war narratives, Crane distinguishes it from that tradition by the use of images, which contain highly symbolic meanings. Through the description of various images, Crane presents to the reader a vivid picture of war and its influence on a common soldier- Henry Fleming.
At present, most critics agree that it is Crane’s innovation(the use of symbolism) in writing to achieve the artistic effect. He creates a great variety of images, among which the most striking images are colors and animals. Crane seizes colors -- the people’s most sensitive element in their vision, and puts them into his literary creation. Through them, Crane shows colorful pictures of people and their feelings to the reader, and also provides abundant imaginative contents to the reader. Meanwhile Crane uses these animal images to represent the behavior and the psychology of the hero -- Henry in different stages of the war. In addition, some other images are also used in this novel, for example, machine images, nature images, barbarian images, sound images, and so on. All kinds of images flash by in the novel.
 Through the use of the technique of symbolism, Crane succeeds in conveying his naturalism -- a kind of pessimistic philosophy of the late nineteenth century American society and expressing his naturalistic conception. To him, both the color images and animal images fully represent the brutality，chaos and meaninglessness of war; and to show nature’s hostility and indifference to man; meanwhile to indicate man’s insignificance in the universe. Due to the symbolism, it helps Crane to express such great and important themes in so short a novel with vividness and attractiveness and makes The Red Badge of Courage an American literary classic work of highly artistic value. In fact, Crane，not only in The Red Badge of Courage，but also in his other works such as Maggie: A Girl of Streets，The Blue Hotel，and The Open Boat，employs symbolism pervasively, which is one of the most important literary techniques used by modernist writers. In1924 Jean Cazemajou even wrote: “Modern American literature may be said，accurately enough，to have begun with Stephen Crane” [14]ore, in addition to the expression of important themes through symbolism，Crane has also exerted a far-reaching influence on later writers such as Ernest Hemingway，John Dos Passos，and Jarnes T. Farrell.
All in all, just as Sydney Brooks once stated, “The Red Badge of Courage was read as a novel of spectacular descriptions—vivid scenes which would satisfy the embryonic society of the 1890’s desire for thrilling spectacle.”[15]145. Crane’s artistic achievement is so great that much of the im pact of the novel arises, then, from its powerful picture of war, the psychological portrait of a raw recruit, the images that leap off the page into the mind of the reader and its ironic language. It is no wonder that Sydney Brooks recognized this novel as a masterpiece by writing that “It would likely be one of the deathless books which must be read by everybody who desires to be, or to see, a connoisseur of modern fiction.” [15] doubt, along with the development of study of Crane，his position in American literary field and even in the literary field of the world would be recognized by increasing people.

Acknowledgements

I would like to offer my greatest thanks to a number of people. Without whose help and support this thesis could not have reached its completion. Although, it is impossible to acknowledge everyone who assisted me，a few people deserve special gratitude.
My initial thanks go to my supervisor Xu Liangfeng, who patiently supervised my dissertation and was at times very willing to offer me precious guidance in this study， and gave me his valuable advice and suggestion. I am impressed by his serious and strict attitude in academic research. Without his help, I could not have finished this dissertation.
I am also grateful to other teachers and my classmates who have not only offered me their warm encouragements but also shared with me their ideas and books. They are Professor Zhu Ming, Professor Yang Xue and many others.
Finally, I feel grateful to my family for their encouragement and understanding and support, and offered a harbor of happiness and sweetness for me.
The remaining weakness and possible errors of the dissertation are entirely my own.
 
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