Stephen Crane, The Red Badge of Courage

Max Lester Loges (Lamar University)
Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error

Stephen Crane’s

The Red Badge of Courage

(

Red Badge

) is a classic of American literature in its realistic depiction of war from the average soldier’s viewpoint. The story’s central character, Henry Fleming, is a young man who looks even younger than his chronological age and is given the descriptive title of “the youth”. He is the only child in a single parent family, his father having died sometime in the distant pass. Henry has a romantic picture of himself, imagining girls at his school in love with him and seeing himself as the hero in all his warlike dreams. He joins a regiment, the 304th New York, being raised in his area and receives training along the banks of the Rappahannock River in Northern Virginia in the spring of 1863.

The story begins when one of Henry’s

4083 words

Citation: Loges, Max Lester. "The Red Badge of Courage". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 November 2015 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=7545, accessed 19 March 2024.]

7545 The Red Badge of Courage 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.