Research Article
Echoes of Conflict: Exploring the Parallels Between The Red Badge of Courage and the Socioeconomic Dynamics of Post-Civil War America
Abstract
This article is an attempt to analyze The Red Badge of Courage as a socio-political allegory of the period in which it was written. Two facts cannot be ignored when characterizing post-Civil War America: one of them is the rise of industrial production with the support of scientific developments and subsequent economic expansion. The other is the increasing migration due to the economic destruction in the South and higher standards of living promised by the industrial cities of the North. In this period, changes in production techniques created an advantage in favor of employers in wage competition. Therefore, factory owners began to prefer unskilled migrant workers instead of skilled workers and this also increased the intensity of urbanization. While rapid population growth turned the cities into industrial jungles, life for the rural migrant workers, who were destitute of supportive social networks, was no different than a battlefield of problems. It was at such a time that the novel was written, and the 304th infantry regiment, made up of young and inexperienced soldiers in the story, is in many ways reminiscent of young industrial workers.
References
- Adorno, T. W. (2013). Aesthetic Theory. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
- Bassett, J. E. (1985). The Gilded Age: Performance, Power, and Authority. Studies in the Novel, 17(4), pp. 395–405. http://www.jstor.org/stable/29532371
- Bloom, H. (2004) Introduction. American Naturalism. (ed by Bloom, H.) Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers.
- Britannica (n.d.). Naturalism. In Britannica.com. Retrieved June 19, 2022, from https://www.britannica.com/art/French-literature/The-reaction-against-reason
- Britannica (n.d.). Purgatory. In Britannica.com. Retrieved June 19, 2022, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/purgatory-Roman-Catholicism/Development -of-the-tradition
- Cashman, S. D. (1994). America in the Gilded Age. New York: New York University Press.
- Crane, S. (2000). The Red Badge of Courage. St. Paul, Minnesota: EMC/Paradigm Publishing.
- Davis, J.A. (2010). Music and Gallantry in Combat During the American Civil War. American Music, University of Illinois Press, Vol. 28, No. 2 (Summer 2010), pp. 141-172.
- Engels, F. (2010). Conditions of the Working Class in England. Panther Edition, (1969 [1845]) from the Institute of Marxism-Leninism, Moscow; First Published: Leipzig in 1845; The English edition (authorized by Engels) was published in 1887 in New York and in London in 1891; Transcription/Markup: Zodiac Tim Delaney in 1998; Proofed and corrected by Mark Harris, 2010. Viewed 05.07.2022 from https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/pdf/condition-working-class- england.pdf
- Gislason, E. J. (1996). Imaging America: Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage and Visual Representations of the Civil War. (MA Thesis. University of Virginia).
- Hirschman C & Mogford E. (2009). Immigration and the American Industrial Revolution from 1880 to 1920. Soc Sci Res. Dec;38(4), pp. 897-920. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2760060/pdf/nihms108728.pdf
- Jameson, F. (1982). The Political Unconscious: Narrative as a Socially Symbolic Act. New York: Cornell University Press.
- Mufti, N. (2018). Civilizing War: Imperial Politics and the Poetics of National Rupture. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press.
- Nagel, J. (1980). Stephen Crane and Literary Impressionism. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.
- Nevins, A. (1971). The Emergence of Modern America, 1865-1878. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
- OED. (n.d.). American dream. Online Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved July 06, 2022, from https://www.oed.com/search/dictionary/?scope=Entries&q=american+dream
- Pater, W. (2006) Art is Emotion. Readings in the History of Æsthetics: An Open-Source Reader; Ver. 0.11. by Lee Archie & John G. Archie, Retrieved July 06, 2022, from https://philosophy.lander.edu/intro/artbook.pdf
- Pittenger, M. (1997). World of Difference: Constructing the ‘Underclass’ in Progressive America. American Quarterly, Vol. 49, No. 1 (Mar., 1997), The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 26-65. https://www.jstor.org/stable/30041566?seq=1
- Pizer, D. (2006). Late Nineteenth-Century American Literary Naturalism: A Re-Introduction. American Literary Realism, Spring, 2006, Vol. 38, No. 3 (Spring, 2006), University of Illinois Press, pp. 189-02. http://www.jstor.com/stable/27747215
- Rafferty, J. P. (n.d.) The Rise of the Machines: Pros and Cons of the Industrial Revolution. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/story/the-rise-of-the-machines-pros-and-cons-of-the-industrial-revolution
- Shi, L. (2019). Study on Naturalism in The Red Badge of Courage. [Conference presentation] Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 368 Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Art Studies: Science, Experience, Education (ICASSEE 2019) Atlantis Press, pp. 90-93
- Solomon, E. (1959). The Structure of The Red Badge of Courage. Modern Fiction Studies, Autumn, pp. 220-34.
- Sorrentino, P. (2014). Stephen Crane A Life of Fire. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
- Spencer, H. (1981). The Man Versus the State. Indianapolis: Liberty Classics.
- Stallman, R.W. (1952). Stephen Crane: An Omnibus. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
- Tanrıtanır, B.C. (2019). A Coward Hero in Stephen Cranes The Red Badge of Courage (1895). The Journal of Social Sciences Institute, Summer, 2019, Issue: 44, Van Yüzüncü Yıl University, pp.53-61. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/749464#:~:text=The%20Red%20Badge%20of%20Courage%20is%20the%20story%20of%20the,self%2Dpreservation%20or%20survival%20instinct.
- Tyson, L. (2015). Critical Theory Today. London: Routledge.
- Vance, J. (2003). Chaplin: Genius of the Cinema. New York: Harry N. Abrams.
- White, M. (2009). The American Intellectual versus the American City (1961). From a Philosophical Point of View: Selected Studies. Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp. 299-309.
- Wright, G. (2002). Origins of American Industrial Success. Historical Perspectives on the American Economy. (Whaples, Robert and Betts, Dianne C. Eds.) Cambridge University Press, pp. 455-481.
- Zeller, B. (2022). How Many Died in the American Civil War?. History.com. A&E Television Networks. Retrieved February 14, 2024, form https://www.history.com/news/american-civil-war-deaths
Çatışmanın Yankıları: Kanlı Madalya ile İç Savaş Sonrası Amerika'nın Sosyoekonomik Dinamikleri Arasındaki Benzerlikleri Keşfetmek
Abstract
Bu makale, The Red Badge of Courage'ı yazıldığı dönemin sosyopolitik bir alegorisi olarak inceleme girişimidir. İç Savaş sonrası Amerika'yı karakterize ederken iki göz ardı edilemez gerçekten söz edilebilir. Bunlardan ilki, bilimsel gelişmeler ve akabinde gelen ekonomik genişlemenin desteğiyle yükselen endüstriyel üretimdir. Diğeri ise Güney'deki ekonomik yıkım ve Kuzey'deki sanayileşmiş kentlerinin vaat ettiği daha yüksek yaşam standartları nedeniyle artan göç olgusudur. Bu dönemde üretim tekniklerindeki değişiklikler ücret rekabetinde işverenler lehine bir avantaj yaratmıştır. Bu nedenle fabrika sahipleri vasıflı işçiler yerine vasıfsız göçmen işçileri tercih etmeye başlamış ve bu da kentleşmenin yoğunluğunu artırmıştır. Hızlı nüfus artışı şehirleri birer vahşi sanayi ormanına dönüştürürken, destekleyici sosyal ağlardan yoksun kırsal göçmen işçilerin hayatı türlü sorunlarla boğuştukları bir savaş alanından farklı değildi. Roman böyle bir dönemde yazılmıştır. Hikâyedeki genç ve tecrübesiz askerlerden oluşan 304ncü piyade alayı birçok bakımdan dönemin genç sanayi işçilerini çağrıştırmaktadır.
References
- Adorno, T. W. (2013). Aesthetic Theory. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
- Bassett, J. E. (1985). The Gilded Age: Performance, Power, and Authority. Studies in the Novel, 17(4), pp. 395–405. http://www.jstor.org/stable/29532371
- Bloom, H. (2004) Introduction. American Naturalism. (ed by Bloom, H.) Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers.
- Britannica (n.d.). Naturalism. In Britannica.com. Retrieved June 19, 2022, from https://www.britannica.com/art/French-literature/The-reaction-against-reason
- Britannica (n.d.). Purgatory. In Britannica.com. Retrieved June 19, 2022, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/purgatory-Roman-Catholicism/Development -of-the-tradition
- Cashman, S. D. (1994). America in the Gilded Age. New York: New York University Press.
- Crane, S. (2000). The Red Badge of Courage. St. Paul, Minnesota: EMC/Paradigm Publishing.
- Davis, J.A. (2010). Music and Gallantry in Combat During the American Civil War. American Music, University of Illinois Press, Vol. 28, No. 2 (Summer 2010), pp. 141-172.
- Engels, F. (2010). Conditions of the Working Class in England. Panther Edition, (1969 [1845]) from the Institute of Marxism-Leninism, Moscow; First Published: Leipzig in 1845; The English edition (authorized by Engels) was published in 1887 in New York and in London in 1891; Transcription/Markup: Zodiac Tim Delaney in 1998; Proofed and corrected by Mark Harris, 2010. Viewed 05.07.2022 from https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/pdf/condition-working-class- england.pdf
- Gislason, E. J. (1996). Imaging America: Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage and Visual Representations of the Civil War. (MA Thesis. University of Virginia).
- Hirschman C & Mogford E. (2009). Immigration and the American Industrial Revolution from 1880 to 1920. Soc Sci Res. Dec;38(4), pp. 897-920. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2760060/pdf/nihms108728.pdf
- Jameson, F. (1982). The Political Unconscious: Narrative as a Socially Symbolic Act. New York: Cornell University Press.
- Mufti, N. (2018). Civilizing War: Imperial Politics and the Poetics of National Rupture. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press.
- Nagel, J. (1980). Stephen Crane and Literary Impressionism. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.
- Nevins, A. (1971). The Emergence of Modern America, 1865-1878. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
- OED. (n.d.). American dream. Online Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved July 06, 2022, from https://www.oed.com/search/dictionary/?scope=Entries&q=american+dream
- Pater, W. (2006) Art is Emotion. Readings in the History of Æsthetics: An Open-Source Reader; Ver. 0.11. by Lee Archie & John G. Archie, Retrieved July 06, 2022, from https://philosophy.lander.edu/intro/artbook.pdf
- Pittenger, M. (1997). World of Difference: Constructing the ‘Underclass’ in Progressive America. American Quarterly, Vol. 49, No. 1 (Mar., 1997), The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 26-65. https://www.jstor.org/stable/30041566?seq=1
- Pizer, D. (2006). Late Nineteenth-Century American Literary Naturalism: A Re-Introduction. American Literary Realism, Spring, 2006, Vol. 38, No. 3 (Spring, 2006), University of Illinois Press, pp. 189-02. http://www.jstor.com/stable/27747215
- Rafferty, J. P. (n.d.) The Rise of the Machines: Pros and Cons of the Industrial Revolution. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/story/the-rise-of-the-machines-pros-and-cons-of-the-industrial-revolution
- Shi, L. (2019). Study on Naturalism in The Red Badge of Courage. [Conference presentation] Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 368 Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Art Studies: Science, Experience, Education (ICASSEE 2019) Atlantis Press, pp. 90-93
- Solomon, E. (1959). The Structure of The Red Badge of Courage. Modern Fiction Studies, Autumn, pp. 220-34.
- Sorrentino, P. (2014). Stephen Crane A Life of Fire. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
- Spencer, H. (1981). The Man Versus the State. Indianapolis: Liberty Classics.
- Stallman, R.W. (1952). Stephen Crane: An Omnibus. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
- Tanrıtanır, B.C. (2019). A Coward Hero in Stephen Cranes The Red Badge of Courage (1895). The Journal of Social Sciences Institute, Summer, 2019, Issue: 44, Van Yüzüncü Yıl University, pp.53-61. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/749464#:~:text=The%20Red%20Badge%20of%20Courage%20is%20the%20story%20of%20the,self%2Dpreservation%20or%20survival%20instinct.
- Tyson, L. (2015). Critical Theory Today. London: Routledge.
- Vance, J. (2003). Chaplin: Genius of the Cinema. New York: Harry N. Abrams.
- White, M. (2009). The American Intellectual versus the American City (1961). From a Philosophical Point of View: Selected Studies. Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp. 299-309.
- Wright, G. (2002). Origins of American Industrial Success. Historical Perspectives on the American Economy. (Whaples, Robert and Betts, Dianne C. Eds.) Cambridge University Press, pp. 455-481.
- Zeller, B. (2022). How Many Died in the American Civil War?. History.com. A&E Television Networks. Retrieved February 14, 2024, form https://www.history.com/news/american-civil-war-deaths
There are 31 citations in total.
Details
| Primary Language | English |
|---|---|
| Subjects | North American Language, Literature and Culture |
| Journal Section | EDEBİYAT / ARAŞTIRMA MAKALELERİ |
| Authors | |
| Publication Date | April 29, 2024 |
| Submission Date | January 1, 2024 |
| Acceptance Date | March 13, 2024 |
| Published in Issue | Year 2024 Volume: 9 Issue: 1 |
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