Red Badge Of Courage Coming Of Age Analysis

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Can you identify one experience that changed your entire view of the world around you? Henry Fleming, the main character in The Red Badge of Courage, begins his life-changing adventure as a naive young man, eager to experience the glory of war. He soon faces the truth about life, war, and his own self-identity on the battlefield. The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane, is a coming of age novel, published by D. Appleton and Company in 1895, about thirty years after the Civil War ended. In this book, the author reveals the ugliness of war, and examines its relationship to the pain of growing up. This is a story about a young man named Henry who wants to fight for the Union in the Civil War. He leaves his mother behind and finds himself…show more content…
It loses a lot of what could strengthen it to make it more of historical fiction. Although the story, written and published a long time ago, in contemporary times, make readers wonder, "Where exactly does this fit in to my understanding of the Civil War?" The changes that Henry goes through make this story a coming of age story. He enters the army as a young man and, after several battles, leaves a real man. Before he sees his first action, we see him battling with feelings of insecurity and cowardice. But it's interesting to note that once he gets a good taste of battle, he almost seems to be battling the emotions of pride, glory and ambition like he has to hold himself back from charging the enemy by himself. So what is the red badge of courage? The badge is obviously symbolic, but it turns out that the badge is red because of the men's blood. It's similar to dirty vs. clean football uniforms. The more dirty the uniform, the more that player has played. The guys with the clean uniforms are usually the guys just watching. When Henry returns to the battlefield after running away, he sees all of the wounded and wishes that he too could have been wounded, as it would have shown a sign of courage for staying in the fight. And by the end, after his courageous charge and wounds, he earns his own red badge of

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