Red Badge

The Red Badge of Courage used to be a novel that I really didn't enjoy. However, I changed my tune a little after teaching it to juniors, especially the boys, and made it more of a 'blood and guts' and warfare type of novel. Of course it doesn't compare much to what we see today on television, in movies, or even real life with Iraq, Afghanistan, and now Egypt, but it served the purpose of using the imagination too fill in what Crane meant.

That is the beauty of 'universality' which is one term I always use while discussing literature. Could the story found in this novel span the time periods and occur in any place we could imagine? Civil War and the south? Yes. Were soldiers scared to go off to war in WWII? That's what my dad said. How about Vietnam? Any hiding there in the swamps, huts, and villages? You bet. Courage. Fear. Leadership. Timeless-all of these.

Then there are the powerful techniques that Crane used---symbolism found in nature, colors, religion. Imagery--wow! Use of dialogue. Time? How much time really does elapse during the course of the actual story?

Even though the first time I studied Red Badge I really didn't like it, I have grown to really enjoy teaching the novel and discussing it with my students. Of course the first reading was as a sophomore in high school when I hated war and 'boy stories' which I deemed this book. Now as an adult, I see a message that Crane was trying to stress to his readers through the story of Henry Fleming.

And THAT, is why we read it in ENGL 223.