Many of Stephen Crane’s passions in life strongly influenced his writing of The Red Badge of Courage, most predominately his obsession with war. The Red Badge of Courage, was Crane’s first book about war and arguably is most successful book. His book consisted of so many different styles of writing scholars did not know how to classify it. These styles of writing include realism, naturalism, symbolism, and impressionism. In fact many Civil War Veterans though Crane had fought in the Civil war himself. However Crane was not born until a few years after the war ended. This speaks to the prestige of the realism in Crane’s book.
Before Crane got his start as a writer he was born in Newark, New Jersey on November 1, 1871 to Mary Helen Crane and Reverend Doctor Jonathan Townley Crane. Before Crane published his first novel Maggie: A Girl of The Streets in 1893, he flunked out of both Lafayette College, and Syracuse University. Despite flunking out of school by the time Crane died in 1900 when he was twenty-eight he has written six novels, around a hundred short stories, two books of poems, and voluminous journalism and war correspondence (GCE). Not only did Crane’s writing focus on war, his life revolved around his fascination of war. On multiple occasions Crane went to various countries to witness the Spanish-American War, Greco-Turkish conflict, and an insurrection in Cuba. After her during many of trips he wrote about the war in vivid realism like the realism found in The Red Badge of Courage. Similarly to Crane writers of the 1890s were writing with realism too and among these writers Crane was one of the most influential (EWB). Through these methods of writing Crane examines the reaction of the main character in extreme situat...
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... Encyclopedia of American Literature. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 2009. 348-352. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 5 Mar. 2014.
Crane, Stephen. The Red Badge of Courage. New York: Penguin, 2005. Print.
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“The Red Badge of Courage.” Novels for Students. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski. Vol. 4. Detroit: Gale, 1998. 253-275. Gale Power Search. Web. 5 Mar. 2014.
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Schroeder, John W. "Stephen Crane Embattled," University of Kansas City Review, XVII (Winter 1950), 119 Rpt. in
Events of crisis tend to reveal people’s true character, as well as help those people learn from the experience. Decisions people make during crises can display what kind of personality they have. In The Red Badge Of Courage by Stephen Crane, the youthful main protagonist, Henry, decides to join the army. In the beginning of the novel, Henry exhibits multiple cowardly qualities. However, through a series of battles, Henry learns more about himself and begins to become a remarkably brave soldier. Henry’s transformation from cowardice to bravery is portrayed through Henry’s change in thoughts, actions, and dialogue.
The Red Badge of Courage is not a war novel. It is a novel about life. This novel illustrates the trials and tribulations of everyday life. Stephen Crane uses the war as a comparison to everyday life. He is semi-saying that life is like a war. It is a struggle of warriors—the every day people—against the odds. In these battles of everyday life, people can change. In The Red Badge of Courage, the main character, Henry Fleming, undergoes a character change that shows how people must overcome their fears and the invisible barriers that hold them back from being the best people—warriors, in the sense that life is war—they can be. Henry has a character change that represents how all humans have general sense of fear of the unknown that must be overcome.
War forces young soldiers to grow up quickly. In Stephen Crane’s Civil War novel, The Red Badge of Courage, Henry Fleming is no exception. He is faced with the hard reality of war and this forces him to readjust his romantic beliefs about war. Through the novel, the reader can trace the growth and development of Henry through these four stages: (1) romanticizing war and the heroic role each soldier plays, (2) facing the realities of war, (3) lying to himself to maintain his self-importance, and (4) realistic awareness of his abilities and place in life. Through Henry’s experiences in his path to self-discovery, he is strongly affected by events that help shape his ideology of war, death, courage, and manhood. The romantic ideologies will be replaced with a more realistic representation.
Crane, Stephen. A Mystery of Heroism. Elements of Literature: 5th Course - Pennsylvania Edition Essentials of American Literature. Holt Rinehart & Winston, 2004. 435-31. Print.
The Red Badge of Courage takes place during the Civil war and begins with a soldier named Jim Conklin returning back to his regiment to inform them that they might go into battle any day now. The main character of the story Henry Fleming who was recently recruited in the 304th regiment begins to worry about how brave he really is since he has never really been in battle before. The main reason he joined the army was for the honor and glory that came after the battle but he never really analyzed what it took to gain all the glory and honor that he wanted to obtain.
	The book Red Badge of Courage, is about a physical and emotional pain that a solider of the Civil War might of went through. The soldiers pain comes from all of the horrible things associated with war. The main character, Henery Fleming, joins the Union army dreaming of the heroic things he will accomplish. During the war he discovers that war is not so great and becomes real unsure of himself. Henry then meets up with his friend Jim Then halfway through the book he confronts his cowardice and gains a realistic and sense of duty and responsibility. When the novel ends he has conquered his fear. Then Henry meets Wilson, the loud solider, who I think represents the two sides of human nature. Wilson is a mean and tough guy that no one likes and then towards the end of the book he finds that he really cares about Henry. While Henry is dealing with all of his emotions they are moving into war.
Gibson, Donald B. The Red Badge of Courage: Redefining the Hero. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1988.
It is evident that the occurrence of war throughout history has made a lasting impression on soldiers and civilians alike. This has been expressed over the years through different works of literature. The cost of war to the individual is illustrated in “The Red Convertible” by Louise Erdrich, “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, and “The Shawl” by Cynthia Ozick because each story shows some element of mental, emotional, and physical toll.
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane, one of the most significant and renowned books in American literature, defies outright classification, showing traits of both the realist and naturalist movements. It is a classic, however, precisely because it does so without sacrificing unity or poignancy. The Red Badge of Courage belongs unequivocally to the naturalist genre, but realism is also present and used to great effect. The conflict between these styles mirrors the bloody clash of the war described in the book – and the eternal struggle between good and evil in human nature.
...erryman, John, Stephen Crane: A Critical Biography. 1950. Rpt. In Discovering Authors. Vers. 1.0. CD-ROM. Detriot: Gale, 1992.
Crane, Stephen. The Red Badge of Courage. United States of America, Chatham River Press, 1984. Print.
If it was not for Stephen Crane and his visionary work than American Realism would not have taken hold of the United States during the eighteen hundreds. During the years following the Civil War America was a melting pot of many different writing styles. Many scholars argue that at this time there was still no definite American author or technique. Up to this point authors in the Americas simply copied techniques that were popular in regions of Europe. Stephen Crane came onto the scene with a very different approach to many of his contemporaries. He was a realist, and being such he described actions in a true, unadorned way that portrayed situations in the manner that they actually occurred (Kaplan). He had numerous admired pieces but his most famous work was the Red Badge of Courage (Bentley 103). In this novel he illustrates the accounts of a Union soldier named Henry Fleming. At first the writing was considered too graphic and many people did not buy the book. Eventually the American people changed their opinions and began to gravitate towards Crane’s work. The readers were fascinated by the realistic environment he creates even though he himself had never fought in a war (Bentley 103). By spreading the influence of realistic writing Crane has come to be known as the first American Realist.
Gibson, Donald B. The Red Badge of Courage: Redefining the Hero. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1988.
In the Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane, the main character Henry Fleming joins the army as a young fledging and ultimately matures to a courageous soldier ready for battle. The Red Badge of Courage is considered a Bildungsroman since the reader traces Henry’s development morally, psychologically, and intellectually. Henry progresses from a feared youth who in the course of a couple of days, in the line of fire, has crossed the threshold to manhood.