Red badge of courage and Desmond Devlin: Difference between pages
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[[Desmond Devlin]] is a comedy [[writer]] who has worked in such publications as [[Mad Magazine]]. He is particularly known for his hilarious use of ampersands. Devlin first made his mark with the recurring feature "Melvin and Jergens Lotion," which appeared regularly until reader outrage won the day. |
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({{mergeinto|The Red Badge of Courage}}) |
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Despondent over the cancelation of this feature, Devlin made what would be the first of thirteen (to date) suicide attempts. Rushed to the hospital with a bullet wound in his left buttock, Devlin survived a 72-hour marathon surgery session. However doctors could not save the buttock, pieces of which are now on display at the Smithsonian in Washington. Subsequent suicide attempts have been no more successful, though none of them resulted in the loss of any more buttocks. |
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'''Red Badge of Courage''' by Stephen Crane (1871-1900) |
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Devlin currently leads a reclusive life as a philosopher and wine-taster in Israel. |
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The cold passed reluctantly from the earth, and the retiring fogs revealed an army stretched out on the hills, resting. As the landscape changed from brown to green, the army awakened, and began to tremble with eagerness at the noise of rumors. It cast its eyes upon the roads, which were growing from long troughs of liquid mud to proper thoroughfares. A river, amber-tinted in the shadow of its banks, purled at the army's feet; and at night, when the stream had become of a sorrowful blackness, one could see across it the red, eyelike gleam of hostile camp-fires set in the low brows of distant hills. |
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The Red Badge of Courage is a book in which the adventures of a young man, Henry Flemming, are chronicled. His adventures consist primarily of battles and in-camp goings on during the civil war. The book is as much about war as it is about the main character and maturing. North and South mean very little in this story, and it is in no respect a factual of the civil war. The character study in the book is directed towards Henry, Jim Conklin (the tall soldier) and Wilson (the loud soldier). At the commencement of Henry's "journey" the reader learns his rationale in joining the cause at his young age. That being his desire for glory and respect; things he has read about in Greek classics. However; even Henry himself has some doubts in regards to these visions of simple fame and glory, and sees them as somewhat outdated. Upon leaving his mother and his home, Henry begins to question and doubt himself, he feels exceedingly reserved as he battles himself with feelings of insecurity. He has trouble being a part of the group and consistently questions his ability to fight in a battle. He hopes he will not run away like a coward. These feelings and Henry's moods are represented in his anti-social behavior and in the colors and movements of nature (as is seen in the passage above). Especially at the beginning of his service, Henry is the shadow of doubt looming in the group. It seems that many of his doubts are felt by the rest of the group, but voiced in his personal account. Other soldiers seem to share his sentiments but voice them differently; sometimes in ways that irk Henry greatly. Some such behavior is shown by the loud soldier, Wilson; who, through the course of the book, matures with Henry. Wilson's "loud" and boisterous behavior is greatly condemned by Henry, because he himself feels the same thing. This type of adolescent behavior recedes as the book continues and Henry becomes increasingly more interwoven into the dogged, instinctual, war mentality. At this point Henry seems gain maturity, but there are undertones of loss in his maturing, because with it comes the loss of Henry's doubts and his intellectual prescience. The loss of Henry's doubts is left unresolved as he goes through more battles, experiences loss and denial and other "coming-of-age" tribulations. Near the end of the book, four soldiers from the opposing army are captured; the descriptions of each of these men are a type of summary of Henry's maturing process, each one representing a different phase. Although the |
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book ends with inspirational tones, there are weighty topics present; such as the numbing effects of war, and the loss of innocence. |
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{{US-writer-stub}} |
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By: Daniel Sorger |
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[[Category:American humorists|Devlin, Desmond]] |
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Revision as of 19:47, 14 December 2005
Desmond Devlin is a comedy writer who has worked in such publications as Mad Magazine. He is particularly known for his hilarious use of ampersands. Devlin first made his mark with the recurring feature "Melvin and Jergens Lotion," which appeared regularly until reader outrage won the day.
Despondent over the cancelation of this feature, Devlin made what would be the first of thirteen (to date) suicide attempts. Rushed to the hospital with a bullet wound in his left buttock, Devlin survived a 72-hour marathon surgery session. However doctors could not save the buttock, pieces of which are now on display at the Smithsonian in Washington. Subsequent suicide attempts have been no more successful, though none of them resulted in the loss of any more buttocks.
Devlin currently leads a reclusive life as a philosopher and wine-taster in Israel.
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