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Summary: A Boy Grows Up
Review: This classic tale of a young man's coming-of-age during the American Civil War is a worthwhile read not only for the themes captured in its story but also for the place it holds in literary history. The basic storyline of the book (boy-becomes-man-during-war) has been recast many times in print and cinema (All Quiet on the Western Front, Platoon, etc), but The Red Badge of Courage stands out for two reasons.First, it was the first popular novel to depict war in a realistic manner. Prior to this work, war was almost universally treated as a glorified and romantic undertaking. Not so in The Red Badge, where we are given a soldier's-eye view of combat. The battle scenes in this book and the descriptions of the dangers and hardships (both physical and emotional) faced by the soldiers may seem tame by today's standards of blood-and-gore violence, but they were quite radical to readers in the 1890's, when the book was first published. The Red Badge was thus a harbinger of the direction in which American popular fiction would move in the 20th century. Secondly, the tale is much more than just a war story. It is primarily a psychological drama played out in the mind of Henry Fleming, the young soldier who is its main character. This psycho-centric perspective allows the story to encompass some of the great issues that were just beginning to enter the realm of popular knowledge at the time, and thus the main character comes to symbolize the entire human race at the end of the 19th century. We follow along with young Henry as he learns through hard experience that he does *not* occupy a privileged place in the world, as he falsely believes at the beginning of the story. As his mother tells him before he goes off to fight, "yer jest one little feller amongst a hull lot of others." This revelation reflects the feeling of all humanity as Darwin's theory of evolution began to gain wide acceptance. We also feel Henry's terror during his first battle and his later willingness to risk death in order to avoid the ridicule and scorn of his peers. The thoughts and fears running through this young soldier's mind, soon to be analyzed in more scientific ways by Sigmund Freud and others in the emerging field of psychoanalysis, are as historically realistic as the men and armaments running across the battlefield.
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Summary: The TRUTH: Unlike any other book I've read...
Review: It was totally unlike any book I've ever read. Usually in books authors focus on EVENTS, what happens around the central character; but in Red Badge, the author focused more on the soldier's thoughts as war, the "blood swollen god," engulfed him, his friends, and his country. The "youth" soldier, the main character of the book, portrays in a sense what thoughts are at the essence of war: fear of death, fear of defeat, and fear of failure. This perception was highly usual for Crane's time, as authors before him portrayed war as a great and glorious and golden chance for victory. Crane, on the other hand, wrote with sarcasm and bitterness, with fear and vulnerability, shedding light on an entirely new view of war which fascinates the reader. He also wrote in changing "moods" or "tones". One minute he'd be caught up in a whirlwind fury of sarcasm and humor; the next, in the blind blackness of fear; the next, in the desperation of a madman. Crane's changing tones are entirely interesting, as in his complex and beautifully visual metaphors and imagery. All of this shows war, battle, in its entirety, revealing to the reader the "riot of emotions" and the confusion that accompanies war and its dehumanizing factors. It's amazing to believe that Crane wrote this book in a little over a week, and at the time of his writing never experienced war. I recommend this to anyone wanting a deeper, more thoughtful reading experience.
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Summary: A good book about the Civil War
Review: I read this book for school and it was kind of a boring book! It is about a young man in battle for the first time ever. He has to decide whether he will face his fear. He didn't face it right away, but ran from the battlefield scared to death. Finally he did get up the courage to face his fear and fights hard to the finish. A good but boring book, I did like it!
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Summary: You Must Have Patience to read this book!!
Review: I had to read this book for English class this year and give a report on it. I thought that it was a well written book that discribes what war is really like. But I also thought that it was very dry, and at sometimes boring. If you read it, and find it boring, KEEP READING! don't give up on it! After you finish it you might think differently. I know I did after a while.
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Summary: DANGER: EXTREMELY ALMOST DEADLY BORING BOOK
Review: I had to read this damn book last year and again this year. It is the most boring book you will ever read. It kinda makes sense in someways if you have your English teacher explainging to you the foreshadowing of all the boringness going on. Horrible but if you want to read it don't say I didn't warn you.
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Summary: This book was very involved and interesting
Review: When Henry Fleming arrives at the battlegrounds for war as a young Union soldier, little does he know the true battle which awaits him. Despite the obvious physical obstacles he knows and fears he will encounter, he can hardly suspect that he will be the center of a transformation from an innocent young boy into a courageous man. In Stephen Crane's novel, The Red Badge of Courage, the protagonist, Henry Fleming experiences an extraordinary flow of emotions, and these prepare him for the biggest and most important battle he will ever encounter. Crane uses a range of emotions from fear to cowardice, a realization of the reason for war, and finally an internal battle between false heroism and true bravery. The story centers around the experiences of Henry, the people he meets, and the choices he makes. Ultimately, these choices will affect him in ways that will change him forever. This plot, along with Crane's remarkable and amazing descriptions of Henry's visions of war makes this an interesting read for anyone, because it portrays a true positive attitude; and it will teach the reader a lesson he or she will never forget.
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Summary: Powerful imagery, yet not my cup of tea
Review: The Red Badge of Courage is a look at the life of a Union soldier. Written by Henry Crane, it exhude the imagery and language that transports the readers to the battle itself. However, the story that Crane tells just did not spark my interest as much as it could have. I was not encaptured in the text of the novel, even during the most hectic of battles. Possibly, the text was TOO enriched with imagery that it weighed down my senses, and my thoughts on the plot were numbened. I am not sure. But this book certainly was exceedingly well-written from a literary point of view. The only problem was that from a viewer-friendly, "reading-for-fun" aspect it failed to fulfill my needs.
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Summary: An excellent book with interesting characters.
Review: The Red Badge of courage by Stephen Crane is based on the story of one man's desires of findong courage within himself. Henry, the main character is a new soldier of the Union army, and becomes apart of the 304th regiment. This particular regiment is mostly young soldiers who do not have any war experiences. However, Henry feels that he is the only person who feels great fear towards battle. As Henry struggles with his fears, he becomes more and more and terrified, because he can no other soldier who thinks they would run away in battle. Confused and extremely streesed Henry's first day in battle was not one he would like to remember. As the story goes on, Henry's ultimate goal is to find courage from within himself so that he may be brave like the others. The book is very well written with many symbolic comparisons to the Christian religon. Crane magnifies the reader's view of war by showing the soldiers' savageness and the pain which war brings on. He brilliantly shows how Henry eventually finds courage from within himself. I can honestly say that enjoyed reading this book. Although it was relatively short when compared to other war novels, the hidden meaning and metaphors always kept the pages turnings. A book formed with good structure and excellent character development I would recomended it to anyone likes Civil War stories.
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Summary: A fantastic portrayal of the Civil War.
Review: The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane shows the inner struggle of a young soldier as he encounters many obstacles throughout the Civil War. Henry had a burning desire for most of his life to be a brilliant war hero. When the army was searching for young men to enlist, Henry thought that this was his once in a lifetime opportunity, so he enlisted. A couple days later Henry was sent to army camp where he soon learned that war was not as glamorous as he had imagined it to be. Instead, Henry discovers that death and destruction are the real components of war. Along with the real battle, Henry has an inner battle which in the beginning of the book his fear was defeating his confidence. But slowly through the events of the war his confidence begins to overcome his fear. This book is for readers who like an exciting, fast-pace book. Stephen Crane does an excellent job of describing the Battle of Chancellorsville through imagery diction, similes and metaphors. Crane writes about the war as if he were actually a soldier participating in the Civil War. Using his realistic writing technique Crane takes his readers on journey on which they experience everything from being ambushed to defeating the enemy.
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Summary: The Red Badge of Courage was a very good story.
Review: The Red Badge of Courage is a novel with very little closure. The story leaves the reader wondering what the signifance of the story is to any other character besides Henry Flemming. It starts off with a young man who seeks more in life, and therefore decides the enlist in the army. He is warned not to be a hero by his mother before he leaves, yet ironically, he leaves the war a hero within his regiment. Henry Flemming, often referred to as the "youth," balances his life through te progression of the story. He commits some very unethical and possibly sinful acts in the beginning, but his actions by the end of the sotry overlap his sins, creating a balanced life. Henry did a very good job in the war, according to his regiment and the authorities. He does such a great job because, not only does he feel bad for what he had done in the beginning of the war, but also he begins to have this hatred for the enemy. This hatred leads him to be a great fighter and also to being considered highly of by higher ranked officers of the Union. This story decribes a man's change from immaturity and youthfulness, into the world of manhood and maturity. Overall, The Red Badge of Courage would not be something that should be read more than once. It was good reading, yet it did not seem to give the reader as much closure as other novels give.
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