... come to a momentary halt because America will have other things on its mind, namely the Civil War. Amid all of the bloodshed and cannon fire of the Civil War, unnatural musings still find a niche in the back of mortals" minds. Stephen Crane writes The Red Badge of Courage as a naturalistic realist, but, "as if to discharge from [his mind] certain phantasmal shapes which would otherwise ... haunt [him]," he includes that sense of dread that makes a novel truly unnatural.81 Crane's brand of naturalism makes his novel ... ghostly. As the protagonist of the book, Henry Fleming, is fleeing ....

• Word Count: 3126
• Approx Pages: 13
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School