The Red Badge of Courage

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane

Category: Civil War novel Grade: B+

Yes, that Red Badge of Courage. I promised myself that I was going to include some of those books that they force us to read back in high school and see if they were really as bad I remembered. I hated this one in high school. Well, apologies to Mr. Henry - my senior year English teacher. He's probably long dead by now but, Mr Henry, if you can hear me -- I'm sorry.

This is actually a beautiful little book. Its only about 125 pages long so its a really quick read. There's a lot of battle and blood as in any civil war book, but, this is really the story of the internal battles of "the youth", Henry Fleming. The terror that causes him to run at the first gunshots; the cursing of the inept generals; the pride in his eventually bravery -- Crane really makes you feel what this kid is feeling as the dreams of battle glory meet the realities.

The writing is really good although, since it was written 125 years ago, a little stilted. There are some passages that are gorgeous. I still think this is a terrible book to make high school kids read but, 40 years later, its a surprisingly good read.

Does mean that Silas Marner isn't as bad as I remember? Naah.