TERM PAPER IDEAS

1. Henry Fleming: hero or coward?

2. Does Henry Fleming have a will of his own?

3. Henry Fleming's romantic dreams.

4. Does Henry Fleming really change?

5. Is Henry Fleming a typical soldier or a typical human being?

6. The role of other characters (Mrs. Fleming, Jim Conklin, Bill Smithers, Lieutenant Hasbrouck, and the tattered man) in The Red Badge of Courage.

7. What is courage?

8. The courageous woman. Can a woman show courage, in Stephen Crane's terms, or is it reserved for men? Does Mrs. Fleming show courage?

9. War as a test of character in The Red Badge of Courage.

10. Fantasies and realities of war in The Red Badge of Courage.

11. Read an account in a history book of the Battle of Chancellorsville and compare it to The Red Badge of Courage.

12. Imagery (i.e., animal, mechanical, religious, sun, color) in The Red Badge of Courage.

13. Divide the chapters of The Red Badge of Courage into four quarters that make sense to you and defend the pattern you come up with.

14. How are the first and last chapters different from the others?

15. What is the effect of Crane's use of short paragraphs?

16.The Red Badge of Courage as a naturalistic or realistic novel.

17.The Red Badge of Courage as a religious allegory.

18. The psychological realism ofThe Red Badge of Courage.

19. Read some of Stephen Crane's newspaper reporting and compare its style to The Red Badge of Courage.

20. Read some poems by Stephen Crane, especially the famous "War Is Kind." How do Crane's poetic styles and subjects compare with those of The Red Badge of Courage?

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