Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane is known for its vivid images and gruesome depictions of the Civil War from the point of view of a young soldier. Crane often uses realism and impressionism to bring these images to life for the reader. By describing things with extreme precision while using words and symbols that inflict emotion on the reader, Crane manages to create a scene that encompasses not only what the war looked like, but what it felt like. This intense imagery is why Crane has been accredited for writing the most realistic – yet still artistic and symbolic – depiction of war (Norton 181). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay In Chapter XXIV, Crane describes the narrator's internal growth and character progression, alongside his literal movement away from the battlefield, saying that "as he trudged...his soul changed." He passed from warm plowshares to the tranquil prospects of clover… The scars withered like flowers” ​​(Grue 104). He uses the conjugation of the terms hot ploughshares and clover tranquility, scars and flowers to show the reader how much Henry has changed and that this change has been incredibly positive. This inflicts an emotion of pride on the reader, who has followed Henry's story from the beginning and experienced his insecurity and embarrassment alongside him, and is therefore proud of the man he 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 bigger picture and therefore the overall change that has occurred within Henry's character. Impressionism achieves this so effectively through its use of emotion, as the reader understands Henry better because of her 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. An example in which he does this is in chapter XIV, when he writes: “a distant bugle sang faintly. Similar sounds, of varying loudness, came from near and far above the forest. The bugles called each other like brazen roosters. The thunder near the regimental drums rolled” (Crane 64). This powerful description of sounds gives the reader the feeling that they themselves are hearing the same thing as the narrator, 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, which simulates the sensory overload of a person at war – there is so much happening at once that it is difficult to assimilate it. Crane also creates helps the reader understand why so many soldiers are forced to run; it would be difficult to cope with everything that happens in the scenes he describes. The extreme details he gives to each description make the scene even more vivid and moving 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..