The Red Badge of Courage

The Red Badge of Courage, a novel by Stephen Crane, tells the story

of a young Union soldier, Henry Fleming, faced with the choice of risking his

life by fighting gallantly in war or risking his honor by running away. When

he goes to battle, his feet make the choice for him, taking him away from

combat. Eventually he joins the trail of injured soldiers marching toward the

makeshift hospital. On this trail, he converses with the wounded soldiers,

who help to change his opinions of himself and his situation. He soon

realizes that he is not the only man who fears armed confrontation, nor is he

the only soldier in history to have abandoned his unit. With his new

confidence, Henry decides to face his fears and go back to the fight. He

offers an excuse to his unit, which merely thought he had been injured,

explaining his absence. Henry then went on to fight bravely and carry the

flag for his unit. Soon, he heroically gets his much desired red badge of

courage.

The most important character of this novel is Henry Fleming. He is

best described as a naive young man from the north who sought the glory and

heroism of battle. To his dismay, he finds himself to be a coward. Through

his discussions with other soldiers, he learns that he still has a chance to

prove to himself that he can still be a hero. Two lesser characters are Jim

Conklin and Wilson. Conklin, often referred to as the tall soldier, was a close

friend of Henry's whom he met upon enlistment. Henry nurses him when he

becomes injured. Wilson, often called the loud soldier, was also a friend of

Henry's who at first is loud and obnoxious, but later is helpful and kind when

Henry is wounded.

This book is set during the Civil War, sometime between 1861 and

1865. The Civil War was fought between the United States of America

(north) and the Confederate States of America (south) over issues such as

slavery, economic differences, and political differences. Slavery was a hot

issue between the regions. The south was concerned that the newly elected

Lincoln was a threat to their much needed slavery system. Each region

economically differed from the other. The north was based on the factory

system, while the south was agricultural. Political views between the areas

split them further, with the north supporting a strong central government and

the south supporting a loose union of sovereign states. More than 600,000

lives were taken during the conflict, damaging over five million dollars in

goods and property, and freed over four million black slaves.

The theme of the book seems to be that it's never to late to choose a

more honorable path. This is demonstrated best when Fleming, after

cowering from battle, returns to combat. The question of which path is the

best proves to be the youth's major inner conflict throughout the novel. He

has an idealized view of war. He has the notion that war is glorious and

beautiful. When he is confronted with the reality of bloodshed, he sees

another side of war; one of death.

Stephen Crane uses colors as symbols all through the story. The two

most prevalent colors he uses are gray and red. Grey is used as a

representation of death. It is the color of the opposing side's uniform as the

reader discovers when Fleming "...perceived with dim amazement that their

uniforms were... light gray" (186). It is also used to foreshadow death with

the mention of a "gray dawn" (67) on the morning of the battle. Most

noticeable of the ideas symbolized by gray are the images of dead bodies.

This is illustrated when the young man finds a deceased soldier in the woods

with gray skin wearing a once blue uniform fading to gray (101). Another

example of this is when Crane describes Jim Conklin moments before death,

saying, "His face turned to a semblance of gray paste" (112).

Fleming's images of the components of war are most often red. The

war itself is described as being red, as is illustrated in this passage, saying

"...War, the red animal, war, the blood swollen god..." (130). Individual

skirmishes are called a "crimson roar" because of the yelling and gunfire.

Red also represents the passion of a soldiers desire to fight as is shown when

Crane says that Fleming was in a "red rage... He wished to... strangle [the

enemy] with his fingers (85)." Finally, red symbolizes human blood and

injuries. This is best shown when Fleming realizes he too wants "a wound, a

red badge of courage" (110).

Despite the fact that Crane had a good idea for a story, this novel turns

out to be the driest and most boring book there is to be read. The Red Badge

of Courage does not hold enough true emotion of pity, anger, or sadness to

truly get across the severity of the Civil War. For these reasons, I do not

recommend this book to anyone in their right mind.