The novel, The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane is based on a short period of time when a regiment of soldiers fight their way through the Civil War and Crane shares with his readers all about their experiences. Throughout the story Crane uses imagery to help his readers relate to these experiences. Crane's various uses of imagery let readers actually feel the emotions these soldiers felt during the conflicts and struggles they went through. Imagery can be used in many ways. It can describe all five of the senses: feelings, smells, tastes, visuals, and sounds. In addition, religious imagery, animal imagery, and color imagery can help the author describe events in his novel.
Imagery is a very useful literary device. It, not only, enhances the author's writing but it helps readers comprehend and relate to the events he's trying to describe. One way imagery recalls thoughts is through visuals. If the author uses adjectives to describe a sight, thoughts of that sight will come to your mind. You will try to remember where you have seen that object or event before. Crane explains a soldiers experience with a dead man; "He was being looked at by a dead man who was seated with his back against a column like tree. The corpse was dressed in a uniform that had once been blue, but was now faded to a melancholy shade of green. The eyes staring at the youth, changed to a dull hue to be seen on the side of a dead fish. The mouth was open. Its red had changed to an appalling yellow. Over the gray skin of the face ran little ants. One was trundling some sort of bundle along the upper lip The dead man and the living man exchanged a long look" (Crane 53-54). This quote can recall many images to your mind: from a history lesson about the Civil War, to fishing, to the movie "Antz". This quote is very relatable. Crane uses another version of visual imagery to describe a battlefield: "As the landscape changed from brown to green.
