Excerpt from The Red
Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
There was a more serious problem. He lay in his bunk
pondering upon it. He tried to mathematically prove to himself that he would
not run from a battle. Previously he had never felt obliged to wrestle too
seriously with this question. In his life he had taken certain things for
granted, never challenging his belief in ultimate success, and bothering little
about means and roads. But here he was confronted with a thing of moment. It
had suddenly appeared to him that perhaps in a battle he might run. He was
forced to admit that as far as war was concerned he knew nothing of himself. A
little panic-fear grew in his mind. As his imagination went forward to a fight,
he saw hideous possibilities. He contemplated the lurking menaces1
of the future, and failed in an effort to see himself standing stoutly in the
midst of them. He recalled his visions of broken-bladed glory, but in the
shadow of the impending tumult2 he suspected them to be impossible
pictures. He sprang from the bunk and began to pace nervously to and fro.
“What’s th’ matter with me?” he said aloud. After a time the tall soldier slid
dexterously through the hole. The loud private followed. They were wrangling.
He began to stow various articles snugly into his knapsack. The youth, pausing
in his nervous walk, looked down at the busy figure. “Going to be a battle,
sure, is there, Jim?” he asked. “Of course there is,” replied the tall soldier.
“Of course there is. You jest wait ’til to-morrow, and you’ll see one of the
biggest battles ever was. You jest wait.” “Thunder!” said the youth. The youth
remained silent for a time. At last he spoke to the tall soldier. “Jim!”
“What?” “How do you think the reg’ment ’ll do?” “Oh, they’ll fight all right, I
guess, after they once get into it,” said the other with cold judgment. He made
a fine use of the third person. “There’s been heaps of fun poked at ’em because
they’re new, of course, and all that; but they’ll fight all right, I guess.”
“Think any of the boys ’ll run?” persisted the youth.
“Oh, there may be a few of ’em run, but there’s them kind in
every regiment, ’specially when they first goes under fire,” said the other in
a tolerant way. “Of course it might happen that the hull kit-and-boodle might
start and run, if some big fighting came first-off, and then again they
might stay and fight like fun. But you
can’t bet on nothing. Of course they ain’t never been under fire yet, and it
ain’t likely they’ll lick the hull rebel army all-to-oncet the first time; but
I think they’ll fight better than some, if worse than others. That’s the way I
figger.” “Did you ever think you might run yourself, Jim?” the youth asked. The
tall private waved his hand. “Well,” said he profoundly, “I’ve thought it might
get too hot for Jim Conklin in some of them scrimmages, and if a whole lot of
boys started and run, why, I s’pose I’d start and run. But if everybody was
a-standing and a-fighting, why, I’d stand and fight. Be jiminey, I would. I’ll
bet on it.” “Huh!” said the loud one. The youth of this tale felt gratitude for
these words of his comrade. He had feared that all of the untried men possessed
great and correct confidence. He now was in a measure reassured. The next
morning the youth discovered that his tall comrade had been the fast-flying
messenger of a mistake. The youth felt, however, that his problem was in no
wise lifted from him. There was, on the
contrary, an irritating prolongation. The tale had created in him a great
concern for himself. He occasionally tried to fathom a comrade with seductive
sentences. He looked about to find men in the proper mood. All attempts failed
to bring forth any statement which looked in any way like a confession to those
doubts which he privately acknowledged in himself. He was afraid to make an
open declaration of his concern, because he dreaded to place some unscrupulous
confidant upon the high plane of the unconfessed from which elevation he could
be derided3. In regard to his companions his mind wavered between
two opinions, according to his mood. Sometimes he inclined to believing them
all heroes. In fact, he usually admired in secret the superior development of
the higher qualities in others. He could conceive of men going very
insignificantly about the world bearing a load of courage unseen, and although
he had known many of his comrades through boyhood, he began to fear that his
judgment of them had been blind. Then,
in other moments, he flouted these theories, and assured himself that his fellows
were all privately wondering and quaking. His emotions made him feel strange in
the presence of men who talked excitedly of a
prospective battle as of a drama they were about to witness, with
nothing but eagerness and curiosity apparent in their faces. It was often that
he suspected them to be liars.
1 menaces- dangers
2. Tumult-violent outburst
2. derided- ridiculed
Questions:
1. How do the first two paragraphs best support the author’s
purpose for writing the passage?
A. They provide insight into the mind of the
main character.
B. They foreshadow a disagreement
within the regiment.
C. They establish the intelligence
of the main character.
D. They begin to develop a
melodramatic mood.
2. What best explains why the scarcity of details about the
setting is unimportant in the passage?
A. The setting is of little significance to
the plot.
B. The setting is of little
significance to the characters.
C. The author wants the reader to
focus on the thoughts of the characters.
D. The author assumes that the
reader is afraid to think about the details of war.
3. What does the word flouted mean as used in the passage?
A. cited
B. rejected
C. defined
D. shared
4. Which detail about the youth’s feelings is best supported
by the passage?
A. He is uncomfortable when socializing.
B. He harbors feelings of hostility
toward his comrades.
C. He tends to believe everyone is
more heroic than he is.
D. He has conflicting emotions
toward fighting.
5. Which sentence from the passage best supports the
generalization that soldiers’ lives are filled with uncertainty?
A. “As his imagination went forward
to a fight, he saw hideous possibilities.”
B. “He had feared that all of the
untried men possessed great and correct confidence.”
C. “In fact, he usually admired in
secret the superior development of the higher qualities in others.”
D. “It was often that he suspected
them to be liars.”
6. With which statement would the youth most likely agree?
A. People will often support their
friends in times of trouble.
B. People will usually sacrifice
their own interests for those of family members.
C. People will sometimes express
emotions that are the opposite of those they really feel.
D. People will usually be ruined by
the greed for power.
7. Which theme is conveyed through the protagonist of the
passage?
A. The greatest leaders inspire
others to have courage.
B. It is difficult to feel
differently from those around us.
C. People often doubt themselves
when facing a great challenge.
D. Soldiers often have unrealistic
ideas about the nature of war.
8. The Red Badge of Courage was published in 1895 and was
considered a groundbreaking shift in literature. Which sentence best describes
the literary significance of the passage?
A. It presents an idealistic vision
of soldiers interacting during a war.
B. It presents the psychological
thought processes of a soldier in a war.
C. It presents the negative
consequences of engaging in war.
D. It presents the concept that war
is a result of competing viewpoints.
9. Which characteristic of the passage distinguishes it as
literary fiction rather than literary nonfiction?
A. the point of view, because it is
omniscient
B. the word choice, because it
includes active verbs
C. the style, because it uses
structured paragraphs
D. the tone, because it is
thoughtful and somber
