Novel Review

The Red Badge of Courage

                                                By Stephen Crane

          The Red Badge of Courage is a novel that tells the story of the soldier Henry who went to fight during the Civil War and faced a lot of psychological and inner conflicts.

The main focus of the novel is on the development of his character according to situations that Henry faced. It also focuses on showing the events of the American Civil War and reflecting on it.  He also shows the true nature of the war by contrasting Henry Fleming’s expectations about it (exciting, romantic, and full of glory) with the reality that he faces.

The author Crane consulted Battles and Leaders of the Civil War (1884), a collection of Union and Confederate officers' memoirs which included many illustrations based on wartime sketches and photographs to write his story and try to make it portray the civil war in the most credible way. He portrays the American Civil War in many ways throughout the novel by showing the people’s perspective of the war, the soldiers’ state during it, the value of war wounds, and death.

         Crane focuses on showing how the war affected people and environment in America.  Henry’s mother that first was against the idea of him participating and considered him a “fool” for enlisting in the army, then she changed her mind and said good bye after giving him some sensible and realistic advices. However, she didn’t give him that heroic and romantic farewell he dreamt of (Geroge McMichael, et al, 1993). Also the girls they saw during the time of their movement gave them kisses in the air and showed admiration towards them which was a common thing soldiers encountered from young girls that considered them heroes even before they started fighting just because they were going to fight, defend, and protect them. The soldiers are looked up to as the Spartans, the tough men who would bring glory and pride. Even people surrounding them wanted them to fight to attain this heroism.

       It was an undeniable fact that war had great tolls on the soldier’s state of mind and psychological state. First the soldiers were excited, dynamic, and very eager to participate in war to get glory to their country and people and to achieve heroism and  praise from society they aspired to. Before engaging in the fight they faced feelings of fear, hesitation, uncertainty, and desire to flee. They weren’t ready enough to what was going to happen, and that is clearly portrayed by Crane when he described the different phases that Henry went through from his first battle to the time he fled and how much he was affected by his mixed feelings between the desire to become a hero and the instinct of staying alive and preserving himself regardless of what’s happening around him.

       Then there was the most important point that was considered the main theme of the story which was the wounds of war. Crane focused on the significance of the wounds of war which represented a deep meaning in the novel. The wounds represented the courage of the soldiers, the blood projected their sacrifice, participation, and severe fighting for their country. It represented their nobility and their heroic act, thus “the wounds are the physical evidence of the war's spiritual and ideological struggles” (Unknown).  The wounds proved that the soldier actually fought to serve his country and he showed tremendous courage by his act. And that’s why even though Henry was wounded, he was upset because his wound represented coward because he didn’t participate and he got injured while trying to escape.

       The last thing to talk about is how Crane portrayed death which was the most action that took place throughout the novel. Crane talked about death a lot when he described the scenes of the battles, when Henry’s friend died, when the tattered man died, when he saw a dead man with ants all over him, and when he started fighting and killing enemy soldiers. Crane showed the other side of war, where everything involved death, dirty soldiers trying to stay alive, and their state of boredom during the process that was far away from heroic.

     The Red Badge of Courage is a great representer of the American Civil War, it allows the reader to live the events deeply, and even though it faced a lot of criticism, it was able to deliver the feeling that war beholds thus allowing the reader to actually experience all the emotions which makes it represent the Civil War in a clear image.

References:

Crane, Stephen. The Red Badge of Courage. Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Geroge McMichael, et al. 5th ed.Vol. 2. New York: Macmillan, 1993. 707-87.

. http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/crane/images/section3.html