Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane is known for its vivid imagery and gruesome depictions of the Civil War from a young man's point of view soldier. Crane often uses realism and impressionism to make these images come alive for the reader. By describing things in great detail and using words and symbols that inflict emotion on the reader, Crane manages to create a scene that encompasses not only what war looked like, but also what it felt like. This intense imagery is why Crane has been credited with writing the most realistic – yet still artistic and symbolic – depiction of the war (Norton 181). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In Chapter XXIV, Crane describes the narrator's internal growth and character progression in parallel with his literal movement away from the battlefield, saying that "as he trudged...his soul changed. He went from hot plowshares to prospects of clover tranquility… The scars faded like flowers” ​​(Crane 104) He uses the conjugation of the terms hot plowshares and clover tranquility, and scars and flowers to show the reader how much Henry has changed and that this change has been incredibly positive. It instills an emotion of pride in the reader, who has followed Henry's story from the beginning and has experienced his insecurity and embarrassment along with him, and is therefore proud of the man Henry has become. This symbolic and emotional description is a great example of impressionism and how impressionism can help the reader better understand a story The connections made in the text to Henry's journey as a person help the reader see the big picture and therefore the overall change that has occurred in Henry's character. . Impressionism achieves this so efficiently through the use of emotion, as the reader understands Henry better due to his emotional attachment to him that has developed over the course of the novel. Crane often uses strong sensory imagery to create an even more realistic depiction of war for the reader. One example where he does this is in chapter XIV, when he writes, “a distant trumpet sang faintly. Similar sounds, of varying intensity, came from near and far above the forest. The trumpets called to each other like bronze rockets. The near-thunder of the regimental drums rolled” (Crane 64). This powerful description of sounds gives the reader the sensation of hearing the same thing as the narrator, thus creating an even more vivid description of the battle scene. Crane overloads the reader with sensory imagery, using intense descriptions of each sense in a paragraph or two, simulating the sensory overload of a person experiencing war: there is so much happening at once that it is difficult to comprehend. The frenetic image Crane creates also helps the reader understand why so many soldiers are forced to flee; it would be difficult to address everything that happens in the scenes he describes. The extreme detail he provides with each description makes the scene even more vivid and overwhelming for the reader. Impressionism and realism are used consistently throughout the novel and are even used to describe the same event or object to make it even more graphic. Crane does this in Chapter a crimson and steel assault, getting killed..