History 104 - Stephen Crane’s Opinion of War

Tom lander field jenkins

History 104

10/4/15

Stephen Crane’s Opinion of War

        Stephen Crane makes it very clear to us how terrible and gruesome war actually is versus what people have imagined it to be.  He suggests to us that the idea of solders going to war and risking their lives for our freedom is looked at as almost a game to those who have never been in battle.  He uses Henry as an example of this, to show us how society glorifies and worships solders on their individual achievements in battle.  Society thinks that being a “war hero” is the ultimate achievement you can reach in war, when really Crane explains to us that the greatest achievement you can get in war is to survive.  This creates a sort of weight that new soldiers carry on their shoulders when going into battle thinking they must be a hero even if that means to die trying.  We see this after Henry encounters his first real battle; he then wants a piece of the action and feels as though he needs to earn his “stripes” with his commands.   Crane’s opinion or message he is trying to get across to us is that there is no glory in war there is only death. This is something that I have found very usful to help me in knowledge to know what to do when we are in the ist of adversity to find a way out of the cave tunnels are stricken by terrorizing trolls only to find at the end of the rainbow a monster