Portrait Of A Modern Stereoscopic Hero

The severe argument about The Red Badge of Courage is on the irony of the ending. Crane's ending of the novel is always considered to be ironic for Henry hasn't conquered the indifferent nature and debouched from his own shadow of egoism yet, which indeed, is identified by Crane as the truth of modern survival. Crane and Henry's heroism is not the traditional heroism that victory in a battle or achievement in character-shaping can denote, but modern heroism with individuality and commonness and with pessimism and optimism that can be found in everybody. It is a real hit at that time not because it is an impressive war novel but because it is a novel with modern stereoscopic image of hero. Therefore, this thesis intends to probe into modern interpretation of a heroic image through psychoanalysis of Henry Fleming.Chapter One is a brief introduction to Stephen Crane, the novel The Red Badge of Courage, and some important criticism about it. The modern stereoscopic image of hero is first illustrated by Henry's distinguishing courage to face conflicts and death in contrast to Jim's and Wilson', which is the main idea of Chapter Two. With the courage to face conflicts, Henry begins to blueprint his new home, commons' ultimate target to complete their journey of struggle, because deserting home cannot be his last resort and yearning for home should be tagged with realization of a new home, which centers the theme of Chapter Three. With the introduction of Greek and Hebrew-Christian epic-writing influence on western literature creation, Chapter Four focuses on realization and rationalization of Henry's pursuit of a new home—Henry's membership in the regiment. Membership in the regiment echoes with brotherhood or the sense of community in the world, which colorizes modern stereoscopic image of hero. The ironic ending seems not so ironic since it is the true reflection of the common world and Crane's echo to the competitive society. Thus, it is a novel to remold a modern heroic image.