The Red Badge of Courage As Anti-War Novel

Crane shows us that the young man enters the military life under the illusion that war is romantic and noble: "From his home his young eyes had looked upon this was in his own country with little understanding. It must be some sort of play affair, he had often thought"

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ole in one the dead foot stuck out sadly (20). Finally, the first battle takes place and all is chaos and terror: "The men dropped her and there like flies" (31). However, the Union soldiers win the battle and something of the old patriotism returns. At the same time, he is aware of the dichotomy between the loveliness of peace and the terror of war: " . . . He felt surprised at the pure, blue sky and the sun shining on the trees and fields. It seemed difficult for him to believe that nature had remained peaceful during these horrible events" (33). After surviving that first battle, the youth believes that "the awful difficulties of war had been overcome" (35), but of course those difficulties had just begun. The battle begins again and the youth joins his comrades in a panicked retreat: "He began to speed toward the rear as fast as his legs could carry him. . . On his face was the horrible fear of all things which he had imagined. . . . He ran like a blind man" (38). The book shows the youth to be finally neither a coward nor a hero. He is simply one individual in a series of battles which he cannot begin to understand or make sense of. Survival becomes paramount. He comes to lose all his illusions about the nobility and
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Civil War, Badge Courage, battle begins, York Regents, individual soldier, discussion larger issues, Red Badge, red badge courage, heroism war, war appreciation, believing war, glory battle, patriotic romantic, crane's perspective, issues politics, romantic noble,
Approximate Word count = 1711
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)