Stephen Crane
Stephen Crane 1871-1900
The Red Badge of Courage
is one of the first modern
American novels.
The events in this famous
novel take place during the
American Civil War, probably
at the Battle of
Chancellorsville, which was
fought in May, 1863. The
episodic plot revolves around
a young Union soldier’s
anxiety as he confronts his
first battle and explores larger
themes of fear and bravery,
patriotism, and brotherhood. The Battle of Chancellorsville,
which is in northern Virginia
During the 1860’s, conventional
beliefs held that a young man’s
character was best tested in
war. The battlefield demanded
patriotism, bravery, obedience,
and faith in a particular cause.
Crane explored the theme of
character development as a
result of war experiences, but
he treated the theme critically,
using the methods of realism
and naturalism.
The Civil War formally began on April 12, 1861
President Lincoln issued a call for volunteers to defend
the Union and abolish slavery
Each day, newspapers throughout the North and
South were filled with the exciting details of the
battles
Union and Confederate forces were unprepared for a
long war; the armies were poorly trained, and
discipline was weak
About one million men were wounded, and more than
500,000 died, either from battle wounds or disease
After the Civil War, the nation’s main concern was the expansion of commerce
and industry
New scientific views of the world began to undermine traditional religious
views
Many American writers found in realism the best way to explain these changing
conditions
Romanticism had idealized the imagination, but realism emphasized the
dispassionate observation of fact
The rise of naturalism corresponded with the increasing industrialization of
society
Naturalism contended that human beings are helpless creatures passively
influenced by heredity, environment, and the cruel forces of nature
Naturalist writers focused on the sordid, painful, and tragic aspects of the
human experience
Stephen Crane’s work contains
elements of both realism and
naturalism. Crane did not just
want to depict reality as it was;
he also wanted to present a
personal vision of the world.
The Red Badge of Courage
combines observant reporting
of details with the revelation of
the forces at work within and
around the novel’s protagonist,
Henry Fleming.
Crane was born in 1871 in
Newark, New Jersey
He was an introspective,
rebellious young man who
thirsted for adventure in spite
of frequent illness
Though he died at the age of
28, Crane left behind novels,
stories, and poems that
secured his place in the
history of American literature
Crane was the youngest of
fourteen children
He was fascinated by the
military record of his family
and entered a military school
in New York when he was 17
Crane excelled in military
drill and greedily absorbed
stories about military battles
as described by Civil War
veterans who taught at the
school
Crane lived among the poor in
New York City, and from this
experience he wrote his first
novel, and the first American
naturalist novel, Maggie: A Girl of
the Streets, in 1893
Though later considered a solid
novel critically, because of its
controversial topic, it was a
financial failure at the time
Originally published serially in the
Philadelphia Press in December, 1894, the
novel was widely praised both by the
general public and by literary critics
Crane had long been fascinated by the
psychology of war; he had read books,
listened to many stories by veterans of the
Civil War, and studied closely the war
photographs of Matthew Brady
Many readers are amazed to learn that
Crane did not experience a battle firsthand
until four years after the novel was
published
When he did, he was relieved to discover
that his novel was “all right”
President Lincoln sits for an official
photograph by Matthew Brady
The Red Badge of Courage brought
Crane only ninety dollars, but his fame
spread
He traveled in the American West and
Mexico; he smuggled arms to Cuban
revolutionaries, and he was shipwrecked
off the Florida coast, which would prove
to be the inspiration for The Open Boat,
considered his masterpiece
Crane tried to enlist in the United States
Navy but was rejected because of poor
health; he did cover the war as a
correspondent
Crane died in 1900 of tuberculosis, six
months before his 29th birthday
Crane with his wife, Cora, in 1899,
just months before his death
The Red Badge of Courage made a startling impression
on its first readers, for there were no other books of its
kind
The novel showed great originality, especially in its
treatment of character and its sparse, poetic language
Other important characteristics of the novel are the
use of realistic and naturalistic details and the
exploration of themes of universal concern
Crane’s writing is spare and
compressed, and he uses a
relatively simple vocabulary
Crane gives little attention to
characterization of individuals,
and the novel’s important
characters are initially identified
as “the youth,” “the loud soldier,”
and “the tall soldier”
Crane concentrates on the
thoughts and impressions of
Henry Fleming, describing the
self-doubt, guild, sense of
isolation, and terror
Crane was a realist in his
determination to write honestly about
life as he saw it
Crane saw nature as indifferent to
human beings and viewed individuals
as a mixture of good and bad qualities
Crane used details that illustrate the
senselessness and brutality of war, the
horror of death, and human
weaknesses such as false pride and
selfishness
Crane did not glorify heroism in battle
Like the naturalists, Crane
focused on the sordid details of
life and on characters who are
shaped by their heredity and
environment
Henry Fleming struggles with
indifferent natural and social
forces over which he has no
control
Despite Henry’s inability to
escape his situation, Crane
suggests that the outcome of
this struggle can be courage and
self-respect Henry Fleming picks up
the American f lag before
it touches the ground
The novel deals with the inner conflicts of Henry Fleming, but it is not
altogether a character study
The novel is one writer’s effort to address certain significant questions
that, sooner or later, all human beings must ask themselves
Five questions are of paramount importance in the novel:
How do people act when faced with adversity, danger, and death?
How do we cope with feelings of inferiority, fear, guilt, loneliness, and
anger?
What is our responsibility to other beings?
Are the forces of nature sympathetic, hostile, or indifferent to us?
Who or what determines our fates? What control do we have over our
own destinies?
Chapters 1-7
Chapters 8-11
Chapters 12-18
Chapters 19-25