Read the excerpt from The Red Badge of Courage. In this excerpt, a soldier, the tattered man, has been telling Henry Fleming about watching a man die. He warns Henry that he should look out for himself.The youth had been wriggling since the introduction of this topic. He now gave a cry of exasperation and made a furious motion with his hand. "Oh, don’t bother me!” he said. He was enraged against the tattered man, and could have strangled him. His companions seemed ever to play intolerable parts. They were ever upraising the ghost of shame on the stick of their curiosity. He turned toward the tattered man as one at bay. "Now, don’t bother me,” he repeated with desperate menace. "Well, Lord knows I don’t wanta bother anybody,” said the other. There was a little accent of despair in his voice as he replied, "Lord knows I’ve gota ’nough m’ own t’ tend to.” The youth, who had been holding a bitter debate with himself and casting glances of hatred and contempt at the tattered man, here spoke in a hard voice. "Good-by,” he said. The tattered man looked at him in gaping amazement. "Why—why, pardner, where yeh goin’?” he asked unsteadily. The youth looking at him, could see that he, too, like that other one, was beginning to act dumb and animal-like. His thoughts seemed to be floundering about in his head. "Now—now—look—a—here, you Tom Jamison—now—I won’t have this—this here won’t do. Where—where yeh goin’?”The youth pointed vaguely. "Over there,” he replied.
Which process is typical for the main characters in coming-of-age stories?
Read the excerpt from The Red Badge of Courage. In this excerpt, Henry Fleming has deserted his regiment after the battle.He had fled, he told himself, because annihilation approached. He had done a good part in saving himself, who was a little piece of the army. He had considered the time, he said, to be one in which it was the duty of every little piece to rescue itself if possible. Later the officers could fit the little pieces together again, and make the battle front. If none of the little pieces were wise enough to save themselves from the flurry of death at such a time, why, then, where would be the army? It was plain that he had proceeded according to very correct and commendable rules. His actions had been sagacious things. They had been full of strategy. They were the work of a master’s legs.
Which statement is the best example of conflicting perspectives?
Read the excerpt from The Red Badge of Courage. In this excerpt, Henry Fleming and the tattered man have just witnessed the death of another soldier, and Henry decides to leave the tattered soldier.The youth, who had been holding a bitter debate with himself and casting glances of hatred and contempt at the tattered man, here spoke in a hard voice. "Good-by,” he said.The tattered man looked at him in gaping amazement. "Why—why, pardner, where yeh goin’?” he asked unsteadily. The youth looking at him, could see that he, too, like that other one, was beginning to act dumb and animal-like. His thoughts seemed to be floundering about in his head. Now—now—look a—here, you Tom Jamison—now—I won’t have this—this here won’t do. Where—where yeh goin’?”The youth pointed vaguely. "Over there,” he replied."Well, now look—a—here—now,” said the tattered man, rambling on in idiot fashion. His head was hanging forward and his words were slurred. "This thing won’t do, now, Tom Jamison. It won’t do. I know yeh, yeh pig-headed devil. Yeh wanta go trompin’ off with a bad hurt. It ain’t right—now—Tom Jamison—it ain’t. Yeh wanta leave me take keer of yeh, Tom Jamison. It ain’t—right—it ain’t—fer yeh t’ go—trompin’ off—with a bad hurt—it ain’t—ain’t—ain’t right—it ain’t.”
Read the excerpt from The Red Badge of Courage. In this excerpt, Henry Fleming and the sergeant are talking with a tattered soldier about their experiences in battle.There was a tattered man, fouled with dust, blood and powder stain from hair to shoes, who trudged quietly at the youth’s side. He was listening with eagerness and much humility to the lurid descriptions of a bearded sergeant. His lean features wore an expression of awe and admiration. He was like a listener in a country store to wondrous tales told among the sugar barrels. He eyed the story-teller with unspeakable wonder. His mouth was agape in yokel fashion.
What is the definition of a bildungsroman?
Read the excerpts from The Red Badge of Courage. In the first excerpt, Henry Fleming has decided that he is going to enlist as a soldier in the Union Army. In the second excerpt, Henry leaves for war as his mother watches.Excerpt 1:One night, as he lay in bed, the winds had carried him to the clangoring of the church bell as some enthusiast jerked the rope frantically to tell the twisted news of a great battle. This voice of the people rejoicing in the night had made him shiver in a prolonged ecstasy of excitement. Later, he had gone down to his mother’s room and had spoken thus: "Ma, I’m going to enlist.”Excerpt 2:Still, when he had looked back from the gate, he had his seen his mother kneeling among the potato parings. Her brown face, upraised, was stained with tears, and her spare form was quivering. He bowed his head and went on, feeling suddenly ashamed of his purposes.
Read the excerpt from The Red Badge of Courage. In this excerpt, Henry and Wilson are discussing their impending march into battle.The youth watched him for a moment in silence. When he finally spoke his voice was bitter as dregs. "Oh, you’re going to do great things, I s’pose!”The loud soldier blew a thoughtful cloud of smoke from his pipe. "Oh, I don’t know,” he remarked with dignity; "I don’t know. I s’pose I’ll do as well as the rest. I’m going to try like thunder.” He evidently complimented himself upon the modesty of this statement."How do you know you won’t run when the time comes?” asked the youth."Run?” said the loud one; "run?—of course not!” He laughed."Well,” continued the youth, "lots of good-a-’nough men have thought they was going to do great things before the fight, but when the time come they skedaddled.”"Oh, that’s all true, I s’pose,” replied the other; "but I’m not going to skedaddle. The man that bets on my running will lose his money, that’s all.” He nodded confidently."Oh, shucks!” said the youth. "You ain’t the bravest man in the world, are you?”"No, I ain’t,” exclaimed the loud soldier indignantly; "and I didn’t say I was the bravest man in the world, neither. I said I was going to do my share of fighting—that’s what I said. And I am, too. Who are you, anyhow? You talk as if you thought you was Napoleon Bonaparte.” He glared at the youth for a moment, and then strode away.
Read the excerpt from The Red Badge of Courage. In this excerpt, Henry Fleming is reflecting on what happened after he decided to enlist in the Union Army during the American Civil War.But his mother had discouraged him. She had affected to look with some contempt upon the quality of his war ardor and patriotism. She could calmly seat herself and with no apparent difficulty give him many hundreds of reasons why he was of vastly more importance on the farm than on the field of battle. She had had certain ways of expression that told him that her statements on the subject came from a deep conviction. Moreover, on her side, was his belief that her ethical motive in the argument was impregnable.At last, however, he had made firm rebellion against this yellow light thrown upon the color of his ambitions. The newspapers, the gossip of the village, his own picturings, had aroused him to an uncheckable degree. They were in truth fighting finely down there. Almost every day the newspaper printed accounts of a decisive victory.
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