An Episode of War: Setting 1 key example

Crane does not go into the specifics of the Civil War in the story, as it is less about that particular conflict and more about the harms of war in general. In fact, while scholars agree that “An Episode of War” is set during the Civil War (as most of Crane’s work is), Crane never makes that setting explicit in the story. It is likely that, by keeping the setting somewhat ambiguous, Crane was trying to encourage his readers at the turn of the 20th century to draw connections between the brutality of the Civil War and the brutality of the wars taking place during the time of writing (such as the Spanish-American War and the Second Boer War).

Another important element of the setting of the story is the fact that it takes place next to a forest that the narrator describes as “hostile.” This is related to the fact that the enemy troops are hiding in the forest. Because these troops never appear in the story, the forest itself takes on the energy of a foe, with the lieutenant constantly staring into it, reckoning with the fact that the mysterious person who shot him is hidden within the trees.