The Red Badge of Courage (Magill Book Reviews)
At a glance:
- Author: Stephen Crane
- First Published: 1895
- Type of Work: Novel
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction, Bildungsroman, Impressionistic literature
- Subjects: Maturation or coming of age, Tradition, South or Southerners, Courage, Friendship, Guilt, Violence, Fear, Civil War, War, Self-confidence, Duty, Military life or service, Heroes or heroism, Soldiers, Naivete, Battles
- Locales: United States
Leaving his widowed mother alone on their New York State farm, Henry Fleming, his head filled with visions of the heroic deeds of epic literature and popular myth, joins the Union Army only to enter the decidedly unheroic world of the military camp: the boredom of daily drills and the anonymity of military life. The “youth,” as Crane prefers to call him, persists in his delusions as well as in his fear that he will not measure up to his grandiose and utterly unrealistic vision of himself as a hero.
Dismayed by reality’s failure to meet his expectations and frightened by the...
[The entire page is 625 words long]
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