Red Badge of Courage: Key Questions & Answers
The Red Badge of Courage – Identification Questions
In what way do the men react to the tall soldier’s news?
·They discuss attentively
How does Jim persuade the soldiers about the news?
·By disdaining to produce proofs
What does the youth have a hard time believing?
·That he’s gonna engage in a war battle.
What does he picture himself doing in the war in his dream?
·Saving people with prowess
Why is the youth skeptical of the war taking place now?
·Because it must be some sort of a play affair
According to her mother, where was the youth needed more?
·On the farm
For what Henry felt disappointed to her mother?
·Because she said nothing whatever about ‘returning with his shield or on it’
What does Henry like them most?
·Blackberry jam
What advice does Henry’s mother give him?
·“Don’t go thinking you can lick the hull rebel army at the start, because you can’t”
Why doesn’t Henry believe the veteran’s stories about fierce and hungry members of the opposing forces?
·Because recruits were their prey
What did the veterans mainly talk about?
·Smoke, fire, and blood
Why can’t Henry tell how he will react in battle?
·Because his laws of life would be useless
What attitude does Jim seem to have toward the idea of fighting in battle?
·Like a man who is about to exhibit a battle for the benefit of his friends
What was nicknames for Confederate soldiers?
·Johnnies
What two opinions does he have about his fellow soldiers?
·All heroes / and not – that they were all privately wondering and quaking
When does the youth suspect that the other soldiers are liars?
·When they talked excitedly of a prospective battle as of a drama they were about to witness
What is revealed of the colonel and the horseman’s discussion?
·About the cigar trafficking
What do the columns of men look like?
·Like two serpents crawling from the cavern of the night
Why do you think the youth considers himself to be separated from the others?
·Because he was saddened by the merry speeches
What do the soldiers watch to entertain themselves
·Pilfering (stealing) a horse from a dooryard
Where does the youth wish he were again?
·To the barn / house / field
What makes the youth miserable?
·His failure to discover any bit of resemblance in their – soldiers’ – view points
In what ways do the men become more like veterans on they march onward?
·Few of them carried anything but their necessary clothings and arms
In what ways are the body of soldiers unlike a veteran regiment?
·Because they were too many
What does Henry describe the war?
·The red animal, the blood-swollen god
How does the youth feel about the lieutenant?
·Hatred
How do some of the new recruits think they should fight?
·Like duelists
What does the tall soldier do to make himself feel less angry with his companions?
·Eating sandwiches
What happens to the youths’ “plan” as soon as he sees and hear the violence of battle?
·He forgets about it
What happens to the lieutanent?
·He was shot in the hand
What is the veteran’s reactions to the fleeing soldiers?
·Immediately began to jeer
What attitude does the colonel seem to have toward his men?
·Scold like a wet parrot
How does the youth feel once he begins to fight in the battle?
·Welded into a common personality which was dominated by a single desire
What is unusual about the way the dead lie?
·Twisted in fantastic contortions – arms were bent and heads were turned in incredible ways
What does the youth think the heavy guns are like?
·Savage chiefs
How does the youth feel about his regiment’s flag?
·Feel the old thrill
To what does he compare the flag?
·Beautiful birds
To what are the exploding shells compared?
·Strange war flowers
To what does the youth compare the general’s appearance?
·Business man whose market is swinging up and down
To what does the youth compare this place in the woods?
·Chapel
How does the youth feel about entering the part of the battleground where only the dead remain?
·That he was an invader
To what is the wounded man compared?
·A schoolboy in a game
What does the tattered man seemed to want of the youth
·To be his friend
Where does the tattered man have his wounds?
·One in a head and the other in the arm
What did a boy from Georgia tell the tattered man?
·That they all run like hell when they once hear a gun
The tatter man’s friend name
·Tom Jamison