#24 - Red Badge of Courage

If there's a difference between high school and university homework, it's not in the difficulty, or even the quantity. It's in the type. In high school, you had assignments, and take-home quizzes, and little reports and posters to do. In university, you have readings. Pages and chapters and books' worth of readings. Though this might make for a less intensive night of homework, it does make the transition from homework to the reading list less relaxing. Whereas before I could turn off the computer, sit on the couch and read, now it's just closing one book and opening the next. Certainly this is leading to some reduced enjoyment - but that is only part of the explanation as to why I didn't enjoy The Red Badge of Courage.

The Red Badge of Courage is considered as one of the best pieces of Civil War literature, or indeed any war literature. It was written by Stephen Crane, who died at the age of 28 from tuberculosis. He wrote this work just four years prior, during which time he had all of his experience with war. Wait, what? This means that when the young Crane wrote his battle epic, entailing all of the emotions and sensations of war, he had not set foot on a battlefield himself. This in part explains why his protagonist was the young soldier, who worries about his first experience in battle. Protip: He runs away the first time, eventually finds his way back, then fights bravely and carries the flag in the final charge. Through all this he feels the pride and despair and suicidal (the "red badge of courage" is a war wound) emotions of war. These emotions ebb and flow much like the battle itself, and mark the steady growth of the young soldier's psyche in quite a simplistic way.

The emotions are not the only thing simplistic in Red Badge - the whole book has been universally used as a school text precisely because it can be used as Intro to Imagery, Intro to Character, Intro to Theme. The colour imagery is liberally spaced throughout, and each character is reduced to a single trait instead of a name to make sketches even easier. It would certainly make it easier for grade-school essays, but it also made it much less fun - think A Man For All Seasons with a less interesting point in history. If any part of it is really well done, it's the psychological side of things - Crane really did put a lot of thought into how one might react on the field of battle. However, he wasn't sure how he himself would act, so he instead opted to have the young soldier react in ALL of the ways possible. He goes from cocky to scared to brave to wise to sombre and everywhere in between, and besides the overall trend RESEMBLING growth, it really seems more nonsensical than anything else. Overall, while I can see it being a good book for middle schools looking to mix in some Americana, it's just not that spectacular.

6/10