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'''''The Red Badge of Courage''''' ([[1895]]) is an impressionistic novel by Stephen Crane about the meaning of courage, as it is narrated by Henry Fleming, a recruit in the American Civil War. It is one of the most influential American war stories ever written even though the author was born after the war and had never seen battle himself. Crane met and spoke with a number of veterans as a student and he created what is widely regarded as an unusually realistic depiction of a young man in battle. |
'''''The Red Badge of Courage''''' ([[1895]]) is an impressionistic novel by [[Stephen Crane]] about the meaning of courage, as it is narrated by Henry Fleming, a recruit in the American Civil War. It is one of the most influential American war stories ever written even though the author was born after the war and had never seen battle himself. Crane met and spoke with a number of veterans as a student and he created what is widely regarded as an unusually realistic depiction of a young man in battle. |
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His writing is notable for its detached and critical style, often addressing uncomfortable issues on a deeply psychological level in a way that was ground-breaking in the genre. Though Crane never names the battle in which Fleming participates, it is said in the sequel to ''The Red Badge of Courage'', ''The Veteran'', that Henry was fighting in the [[Battle of Chancellorsville]] in 1863. The battle was won by the Confederacy. |
His writing is notable for its detached and critical style, often addressing uncomfortable issues on a deeply psychological level in a way that was ground-breaking in the genre. Though Crane never names the battle in which Fleming participates, it is said in the sequel to ''The Red Badge of Courage'', ''The Veteran'', that Henry was fighting in the [[Battle of Chancellorsville]] in 1863. The battle was won by the Confederacy. |
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Revision as of 23:01, 14 October 2007
The Red Badge of Courage (1895) is an impressionistic novel by Stephen Crane about the meaning of courage, as it is narrated by Henry Fleming, a recruit in the American Civil War. It is one of the most influential American war stories ever written even though the author was born after the war and had never seen battle himself. Crane met and spoke with a number of veterans as a student and he created what is widely regarded as an unusually realistic depiction of a young man in battle.
His writing is notable for its detached and critical style, often addressing uncomfortable issues on a deeply psychological level in a way that was ground-breaking in the genre. Though Crane never names the battle in which Fleming participates, it is said in the sequel to The Red Badge of Courage, The Veteran, that Henry was fighting in the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863. The battle was won by the Confederacy.
The book was made into a movie by John Huston in 1951 (see The Red Badge of Courage (film)) starring Medal of Honor winner Audie Murphy, and again in a made-for-television version starring Richard Thomas that appeared in 1974.
Plot Details
Fleming survives battle by running away and we are led through his emotional journey, as he tries to make sense of the reality of battle and his own role within it, often reaching rather self-serving and egocentric conclusions. He runs away into the forest and meets up with a group of injured men. They ask him where he is wounded and he is embarrassed that he does not have one. Henry wanders through the forest and decides that running was the best thing, and that he is a small part of the army responsible for saving himself. Henry feels incredibly guilty when he learns that his battalion has won and that it wasn't a suicide mission after all. Henry returns to his battalion and is injured by another fleeing soldier. When he returns to camp, the other soldiers see his wound and thought that he was harmed by a bullet in battle. Afterwards, Henry goes in to battle for the third time the next morning. While looking for a stream, he finds that his regiment has a horrible reputation from the commanding officer. With no regiments to spare, the general orders the regiment forward. In the final battle Henry goes along with the story and becomes one of the best fighters in his battalion, and the flag bearer. Many readers have felt that by mastering his fear and eventually leading a charge, young Henry has become a man.
List of main characters
- Henry Fleming; (aka) the young soldier protagonist. He deals with the terror of war and his own conscience.
- Jim Conklin; (aka) the tall soldier and one of Henry's friends (killed)
- Tom Wilson; (aka) the loud soldier
- the tattered soldier
- the lieutenant (Wounded)
- the white man helper
Style
In some ways Crane's style is ornate, as has been noted above, with profuse use of color and rampant metaphor in a way which was rare for his time. The 'blues' and 'grays' of the two sides of the American Civil War are often described as natural phenomena, swirling like clouds. Fleming's Regiment "was a broken machine".
In dialogue, however, the style is earthy, written out to sound as close to the vernacular of the day as possible. This realism was later to inform many works but was relatively rare at the time.
Trivia
The title itself refers to a "battle" wound that Henry at one point yearns for. He tries to stop Union soldiers from running away and then gets whacked on the head. He then lies to Tom Wilson and says he got shot in the head. Crane uses colors like crimson and blue to represent various moods or relationships in the book. They often change with Henry's mood. A river will be a dark blue, then will look just like a sapphire, and the sun will look like a sick yellow, transformed into gold.
Literary Criticism
- Perry Lentz, Private Fleming at Chancellorsville: The Red Badge of Courage and the Civil War (2006).
External links
