A Review of Stephen Crane's' The Red Badge of Courage

Wartime can bring one both physical conflicts on the battlefield, as well as psychological battles in one’s own mind. Stephen Cranes The Red Badge of Courage takes the reader into the life of Henry Fleming, a young new recruit during the Civil War. Crane studies not only the physical toll war is taking in Henry, but the emotional toll as well. Major concepts in this story of Henry’s journey are him being forced to mature in a short amount of time, self preservation, feelings of isolation, and being courageous. The reader is given an inside look at the costs of warfare.
I. Maturity
A. Henry “the youth”
B. Homesickness
C. War epiphany

II. Self Preservation
A. Running Away
B. Personification of gunshots
C. Regret

III. Isolation
A. Young and inexperienced
B. Comfort in nature
C. “Red Badge of Courage”
IV. Bravery
A. Becomes a hero
B. Flag Bearer
C. Has Epiphany

This war novel, The Red Badge of Courage, is about the growth of a young man, Henry Fleming, in the civil war; his physical and psychological growth. As a young and inexperienced enlister, it did not take long for Henry to realize the true horrors of war. The author, Stephen Crane, provides an intense realism in his story. He undergoes a complete transformation throughout the book. What happens to most people in a lifetime happens to Henry Fleming over the course of a few weeks. Major concepts that Crane uses in this novel to show Henry’s transformation was maturity, self preservation, isolation, and bravery.

Maturing is a natural part of the human experience; when a person develops understanding, responsibility, and wisdom. This is a the central theme in the Stephen Cranes war novel The Red Badge of Courage, all major concepts in this book can be connected back to maturity. Young and naïve, Henry enlists in the war with an ignorant view of what war is really like. He is blind to the truth of war, he only knows of what he has read about in books and has learned at school. The