Answer: Readers might become more sympathetic to the effects of war.
"An Episode of War" by Stephen Crane tells the story of a lieutenant who is wounded during the war. However, its intention is to make the reader more sympathetic to the effects of war. The story shows that the lieutenant is respected and admired by everyone when healthy, but despised and pitied when he is wounded and cannot longer fight. The story highlights how people tend to glorify the war and ignore the negative effects it leaves on the people who fight in them.