Even though the gray and the blue are divided, they are both giving living properties. The gray is seen as a monster; one in which Henry (the youth) has only seen lurking out in the night and is something that has yet to take shape. Even though Henry is on the "good" side, he can also see his own regiment becoming a monster "A moment later the regiment was swinging off into the darkness. It was now like one of those moving monsters with many feet." (Red Badge, 424). The actions of the regiment are often brutal (red) and morally incorrect.

When a soldier tries to steal a horse (a common occurrence during the war) from a farm, a young lady then rushes out to fight for her property. The other soldiers cheer her on instead of helping her get her horse back. The monstrosity is their lack of morals during the war. Henry's mother warns him about these things, explaining that man becomes something different during war and that Henry should be careful about who he associates with. It is not the war that is forcing them to act in this manner, it is what they think they can get away with during the war because it is seen as something that does happen during war.

Henry finally gets a glimpse of what a life and death struggle looks like during the second wave of Confederate soldiers, "onslaught of redoubtable dragons.red and green monsters" (Red Badge, 449). The word redoubtable means that this 'monster' has personal qualities worthy of respect and/or fear (Microsoft Dictionary). These men who have been turned into monsters are both fearsome and respectable. What made them so fearsome, but at the same time respectable? Were they respectable because they were fearsome? These men fighting in front of Henry are fighting for their lives as well as their beliefs. They are respectful in that sense and also fearsome because of the fact that it is a fight to the death.

The men in "The Monster" also become monsters themselves. When the young girl (Sadie Winter) screams that she has seen a monster in the window, the men search for it. Even though "none wished particularly to encounter a dragon in the darkness of the garden" the men step out into the night and "went dragooning over the lawn, attacking the shadows with ferocity, but still with the caution of reasonable beings." (The Monster, 115). They themselves become the dragons and stalk their prey in the night, almost losing their sense of humanity as the prowl the grounds looking for whatever had caused the commotion. When it is assumed that Henry is to blame, they become a mob and Trescott is warned to come after they have had time to settle down, thinly hiding the fact that it would not be wise to come while the mob's anger (red) is still at a high. The mob itself has become the terror in the night after Henry Johnson is safely locked away and it is the only thing to be feared in the end.


Men(humans) are monsters in both "The Monster" and Red Badge. When the men from both stories start to feel fear, hatred, or any type of negative but passionate emotion, they seem to lose all sense of reason. They themselves start to be seen as "dragooning" about the yard in search for a different monster that is supposedly Henry Johnson. At the same time, Henry from Red Badge is also faced with men as monsters who act with deadly violence and have lost all of their humanity.