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Summary: Adam's BMS Literary Corner
Review: The story of The Red Badge of Courage begins with the awakening of a Union regimental camp during the Civil War. Several soldiers of the 304th Maine, including Pvt. Henry Fleming, are discussing the plausibility of a newly discovered rumor. Henry takes the news of the upcoming battle apprehensively, as a result of dwelling on the subject of his own courage, and if he has the will to put his life at stake during battle. He knows that he will never truly know until the first bullets come, and fears that he may not be satisfied with his instincts.
After a long march, the orders for the soldiers are to prepare for a fight. After a seemingly endless reprieve, musket fire as well as cannon fire begins, and Henry's first battle has begun. Many of his fellow soldiers desert, but Henry fights against his instincts and stays with those of strong spirit. Then, another attack comes, and Henry cannot control his actions, leaving his regiment behind in panic.
By now he has wandered off into the woods. After finally finding his regiment, he is then taken care of as wounded, because of his accidental head clashing while running through a skirmish. Instead of being a humiliated coward, Henry is given the respect of a courageous soldier.
After awakening the next morning, his regiment is marched to a new position to relieve a unit that has already been fighting. Not long after, the sound of muskets is heard again, and another battle begins.
A charge then begins, and they find themselves in the midst of smoke and bullets. Suddenly, the color sergeant who is carrying the unit's flag, is put in the sight of a Confederate rifle, and is killed. Fleming quickly jumps to the sergeant's side, and grabs the flag from his hands. Henry is now at the head of the charge, gallantly waving the torn flag through rising smoke and passing bullets, proving his courage not only to himself, but also all of the 304th Maine.
I came to the final conclusion that this book should be read solely because of its historical value. Just as a story, I believe that it lacks great excitement and any interesting dialogue. For the most part, the style of writing is noticeably dull. I do find it intriguing that some of the writing does seem modern. Over the years, The Red Badge of Courage has become one historical novel that all others are judged by, and therefore should be read.
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Summary: Recreating a war with words and visions
Review: Only after you read Red Badge of Courage do you realize why it's called a masterpiece. Stephen Crane is so meticulous in his details, they become the story. In other books, detail is something that becomes superfluous jargin, something to gawk at, where Crane uses it to create a picture, to create a character, and eventually he's controlling your emotions like a dog on a leash. The book is undeniably simple and rustic, powerful and poignant, but it's very humerous as well, it can be darkly comedic.
. And where every book these days claims to be profound and hilarious, this is the real McCoy, though this one skips the hilarious part and just tells it like it is, and we see how life can be a comedy. There's a scene where a soldier dies, it's horryifing and fascinating, but seems pitifully silly once visualized. There's the sweet "tattered soldier" who when described seems as healthy as cottage cheese, you don't know how he's going to live any minute longer, and what Henry, the protagonist thinks, you think too. Crane is dealing with a gruesome subject and his lean and honest, lightweight prose gives it a breeze and it bounces across the page, then he'll hit you with a phrase that is so perfectly written, so inspired. There are scenes painted that are shudder inducing and gut wrenching and breathtaking. These are Crane's descriptions taking a life of their own as he explores the character's thoughts and high ideals and deep fears, the picture of the battlefield, the men dying, and above all the feelings and atmosphere of the war. It sheds a light on little thought about aspects. Who would have thought what it's like to get hit in the head, or to face a mass of men and rifles, or to be a wounded soldier desperate to be helped? This is what he explores, and it's a wholly engrossing and captivating read. I'm usually hesitant of reading detail filled books, but this little book is a window. It brings you to a place that most books keep you out of, it generously invites you to be the character for a while.
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Summary: What it Takes to be a Soldier
Review: I have been thinking about what it would be like to be fighting in a war; leaving home, family, and friends. The amount of physical and mental strain on your body would be unimaginable. The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane, is a book written during the Civil War. Crane presents the meaning of courage through the eyes of a young soldier, Henry Fleming.
Henry Fleming expressed several emotions throughout the book, which correlated to many of the things I would feel. In the beginning he wanted to join the army, but his mother wouldn't allow him. He finally disobeyed her and enlisted. I'm sure my mom would not want me to go either, however if I felt strongly for the cause, I would also leave.
Crane presented the psychological aspects of war to his readers with precise detail and clarity. Before being sent into battle for the first time, most people would wonder if they had enough courage to fight. Henry Fleming constantly struggled with this idea. My favorite part of the book was when Henry threw a pinecone at a squirrel to see if it would take the hit, or run away. After the squirrel ran from the pinecone, he felt justified for running away from the battle.
Although the Civil War was the bloodiest battle in American history, Crane presented the mental struggles more than the physical ones. The Red Badge of Courage expressed many different emotions such as pride, honor, and courage. I strongly recommend this book because of its vivid depiction of the American Civil War. Every young adult should read this book, so they have a better understanding of war.
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Summary: Decent Book
Review: I am currently reading a book called The Red Badge of Courage written by Stephen Crane. So far this book is okay, but
kind of boring. I like this book because it uses many figurative
devices throughout the book which makes it more interesting. I would reccomend this book to you if you wanted to know about the people or dialogue of that time period.
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Summary: The Inner Meaning of Crane's Red Badge of Courage
Review: When Stephen Crane wrote THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE it was hailed as a masterpiece of war fiction, more so especially when its readers found out that the only experience Crane had in war was the kind that most of his readers had: from books and articles. When readers discuss the book, they tend to focus on its two outstanding elements: Crane's use of symbol and imagery and the maturation of one soldier from cowardice to courage. Clearly Crane does use language superbly to create in the reader's eye an image of a callow youth, Henry Fleming, who starts off the novel in fear and finishes it in a blaze of glory. But such considerations, when used in isolation, tend to diminish Crane's more subtle attitude toward war and man's attitudes toward war. Crane tends to picture war in a generic sense. Many of his characters have no name. They are referred to by type: the 'youth,' the 'tattered' soldier, the 'dying' man. Battles have no geographical name. What the reader gets out of Crane's refusal to particularize the war is his belief that all soldiers in all wars react much the same as Henry Fleming to the rigors of battle. Further, Crane's use of color imagery, his investing nature with human qualities (called the pathetic fallacy), and his use of symbols (the flag, the wafer-like sun) all combine to suggest that war is so inherently chaotic that it resists any attempt on a literary level to concretize its horrors.
Crane's focus is squarely on Henry Fleming and his perception of both himself and his environment. We never know what the other soldiers think. We can infer their thoughts only through the evolving view of Fleming himself. And what he thinks is that he will turn yellow at the first opportunity. As he thinks this, he rationalizes that all other soldiers think as he does. Further, he sees nature itself in harmony with his thougts. If Fleming lacks courage, then so must the rest of the universe. Serious literary critics point to even more subtle and archetypal images of birth versus rebirth and retreat versus advance in order to bolster their respective claims concerning how Fleming's moral regeneration began. I have no problem with this focus on Fleming's conversion, but not many readers question the sincerity of this conversion. By the middle of the novel, Fleming has been humiliated, bashed on the head with a rifle butt, separated from his mates, and is generally battling with some serious issues of self-worth. And then he changes. For no apparent reason, he now is brimful with courage in battle and hatred of the enemy. Further, he feels a deep shame towards those boys in blue who now exhibit the same lack of courage that formerly characterized him. Yet, it does not follow that courage must spring forth from a mere recognizance of one's own failings. What Crane would seemingly have the reader believe is that Fleming turned his life around quickly and seemingly at will. Yet I quibble at this conversion. It is more likely that Crane wanted his readers to see that the innate chaotic nature of war is so alien to human understanding that the concepts that we call 'courage' and 'cowardice' are mere tags to describe on the most superficial of levels a multi-faceted series of strands of emotions that under stress blend into one another so that the excess of one is seen as the deficiency of the other. Fleming's new-found courage, then, in charging for the grey guns, is less the permanent sense of abiding bravery than the temporary sense of fear turned upside down, a result which mimics but does not actualize true heroism. As Fleming holds onto his red flag while wearing his red badge of courage, the redness of both flag and badge are reduced to empty posturing, that paradoxically enough entitle their bearer to accolades of heroic merit by those others who have not yet undergone a similar conversion. Therefore, it is this superficial conversion of and confusion with deep-seated fear and suspect heroism that marks Crane as one who sought to reveal the terrible chaos of war by suggesting that those whom we adore as heroes perform their acts with less obvious motivation.
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Summary: Red Badge Of Courage
Review: I thought this was an amazing book, Crane does an excellent job of making you feel like you're in the Civil War! Being 15, I have never been in a war, but now I can say I have.. kinda.
I think that although this book is fiction it feels like it could have happened. The significance of "Red Badge of Courage" is very powerful. The more you think about it. The more it makes you feel.. well the best I can put it is "Wierd."
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Summary: Greatness
Review: This is about as comprehensive and thorough of a narative retelling of the American Civil War that you're going to find in all of it's painful and horrific glory. It is an inspirational tale of a boy who takes up where his brother leaves off when he receives the red badge of courage, the precursor of sorts to the purple heart. It's brilliant and beautiful and just a wonderful read. It's short so it's not intimidating, because it is so old. But still, Stephen Crane made literary magic and a historical masterpiece.
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Summary: Pure Genius!
Review: It's amazing Stephen Crane wrote this at 21 and died 7 short years later. His descriptive imagery is amazing. This is much, much more than just another war book. It is, as Crane himself describes in this edition, "A psychological portrayal of fear". The protagonist, the young Union private Fleming, undergoes an inspiring epiphany. I felt as if I were there on the battlefield in Fleming's shoes...Should I run or should I fight?...what would you do? Fleming fights not only the rebel army, but himself as well. The hardback edition is absolutely fantastic...it includes the entire text - unlike the little short abridged version - and it includes a brilliant 50 page intro by Shelby Foote as well as "The Veteran" and valuable literary criticism after the text. 1st Class!
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Summary: WELL WRITTEN, REALISTIC. MAKES YOU THINK.
Review: The Red Badge of Courage is a great book. It is well written and gives a true-to-life sense of what war is really like. This is the kind of book that will get YOU to THINK about what kind of person YOU REALLY ARE. To me, this is the real value to any good literature--to help you discover what kind of person you really are, or to help you to become a better person than you are right now. This book will help accomplish BOTH.
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Summary: An Exercise in Egotism
Review: Stephen Crane's "The Red Badge of Courage" is not so much a war book in the traditional sense, but is more a book about bravery, courage, and 'becoming a man'. The book's main character is Henry Fleming, a young man from New York who goes against his mother's wishes and enlists in the Civil War era Union army. Henry has visions of war as a grandiose, vibrant, almost beautiful thing. He goes off expecting great things of himself. As he gets closer to actually having to fight though, Henry begins to question himself. He questions his bravery and his mettle. He attempts to feel out his fellow soldiers on the matter; but, either they tell him they would never run or they just ignore him. Only one fellow soldier, Jim Conklin, admits that he might run from battle. Henry stands firm during his first engagement with the rebs; but, when the opposing army makes a counterattack, Henry follows some of his fellow soldiers in turning tail and running. The remainder of the book is about Henry's personal journey of redemption, not so much in his friends' eyes, but in his own. Crane's intent with "The Red Badge of Courage" was not to show the horrors or tragedy of war. By focusing on only one battle, Crane attempted to focus the attention of what was happening on to Henry Fleming. Henry's struggles compared to the army's was like this one battle compared to the whole war. It's a book that did not have to have war as the backdrop; but, since war is the ultimate test of a man's courage, it works as one. Crane's description of the fighting is very good and what ultimately redeems the book. Crane spent much time with veterans of the Battle of Chancellorsville (the battle depicted in the book) to find out exactly what it was like. Crane never experienced battle as a soldier himself but many men who have feel he has captured quite well the sense of it. The fault of "The Red Badge of Courage" is with its main character. In order to have a story like this you must have a character who is flawed in some way. However, to have a good ending, it is necessary to have some type of redemption of the person's flaw. Even as Henry redeems himself, I found myself put off by him as he never seemed to get control of his ego. He never stopped feeling that the war was about him and not about the larger issues involved. This may be expected during the heat of battle, but once the battle's over, it's just plain egotism to go on thinking that it's all about you. Perhaps the weaknesses in Henry's character are due to his youth and he will outgrow them as he ages. Crane does not give any indication of this except for the regret Henry shows at having left the 'tattered soldier' alone in the field during his journey away from the battlefield. Even as he ruminates on this disgrace though, Henry seems more worried about how it will affect the glory he has won for himself. He seems more afraid of not being able to think back on that day with unfettered pride than of the actual shame of what he has done. To the end, Henry was far more concerned about himself than anyone else.
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