When the United States began the Civil War in 1861, nearly every American life was changed, in some way, over the course of the war. Some people were just affected by the big picture of the war, but many soldiers and their families were changed forever(Northman 7). Although, it wasn't published until 1895, The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane, has long been considered the first great "modern" novel of war by an American. Stephen Crane who wasn't even born during the Civil War, did a wonderful job of making every scene in the novel as close to a real life experience as possible by using very detailed descriptive writing. While many colors are used strictly for description, Crane uses the color red to capture whole concept of the novel.

In the very first paragraph of the novel it becomes obvious that Crane is using the color red to...