The Red Badge of Courage The First Modern War Novel

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The Red Badge of Courage The First Modern War
Novel
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About the Novel

• The story of Henry Fleming
• a youth who enlists in the Union army
• has romanticized ideas about war
• quickly realizes that war is not what he expected
  
• must battle not only the rebels but his own
  doubts fears

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About the Author-Stephen Crane

• Born November 1, 1871 in Newark,NJ
• 14th child of a Methodist minister.
• Started to write stories at the age of eight and
  at 16 he was writing articles for the New York
  Tribune.
• After high school, spent 1 semester at Lafayette
  College and another at Syracuse University- was
  asked to leave

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More About the Author

• 1891- Moved to New York, worked as a free-lance
  writer and journalist.
• 1893- lived among the poor in the Bowery slums of
  New York to research his first novel. Maggie A
  Girl Of The Streets
• 1895- second novel, The Red Badge Of Courage
  brought him international fame.
• Crane's collection of poems, The Black Rider,
  also appeared in 1895, brought Crane better
  reporting assignments as a war correspondent in
  combat areas.

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Even More About the Author

• 1898- Crane settled in Sussex, England.During
  these restless years Crane refined his use of
  realism to expose social ills.
• June 5, 1900- Crane died of of tuberculosis,
  which was worsened by malarial fever he had
  caught while he was reporting in Cuba.

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Style- the unique way an author adapts language
to ideas

• Stephen Cranes style was
• Realistic
• Naturalistic
• Impressionistic

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• Realism
• a literary movement that began during the 1870s
  that was prompted by the Civil War
• depicts life as it really is
• extremely detailed description of the life of
  ordinary people
• more pessimistic view of the world
• a reaction against romanticism- a movement where
  the stories were about extraordinary people
  there was always a happy ending.
• (Think of stories like Cinderella where everybody
  lives happily ever after)

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• Naturalism-
• era that developed out of realism
• peoples lives are shaped by forces of nature
  and/or society
• human beings do not have control over their fate

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• Impressionism-
• originally developed in France during the 1870s
• began in the U.S. in the late 1800s, early
  1900s
• overall impressions of a scene or object not
  exact details (like you see in realism
  naturalism)
• similar to impressionistic paintings-

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Waterlillies Realism vs. Impressionism

• Realism-
• clear, detailed
• Impressionism -
• gives the impression,not the clear picture

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To fully appreciate The Red Badge of Courage, it
helps to have some background knowledge about the
American Civil War.
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The Civil War
1861-1865
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The Union(North)
Abraham Lincoln-President of the United States
General George McClellan- 1st Commander of Union
Army
Ulysses S. Grant- 2nd Commander of Union Army
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The Confederacy- (South)
Jefferson Davis-President of the Confederacy
Stonewall Jackson-Commander of Confederate Army
Robert E. Lee-Commander of Confederate Army
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Significant Battles Events of the Civil War
Era
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Fort Sumter April 1861- Civil War Begins
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• July 1861 - Battle of Bull Run
• showed both sides that their soldiers needed
  training
• both sides realized that the war would be longer
  bloodier than they thought it would be.
• September1862 -Antietam
• 1 day, 23,000 soldiers were either killed or
  wounded.
• January 1, 1863 - Lincoln issued the
  Emancipation Proclamation
• all enslaved African Americans living in the
  Confederacy were freed
• focus of the war shifted- Union troops were
  fighting to end slavery as well as to save the
  union.

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• July 1863- Vicksburg
• Union - control of the Mississippi River
• Cut off the Souths trade with Europe
• Cut the Confederacy in half
• Afterwards, Grant appointed Commander of the
  Union Army
• December 1862- Fredericksburg
• Union armys worst defeat
• June 30 1863- Gettysburg
• Confederate troops fought both sides of the Union
  army
• turning point in the war
• Confederates would never invade the North again

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• September 1864
• Union army captured Atlanta
• November 1864
• Union burned the city Atlanta
• Ripped up railroad tracks, burned homes,
  factories, barns
• Total war-
• new type of combat
• destroyed food equipment that the enemy might
  use
• everyone was affected (not just soldiers)

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• 1864
• Lincoln defeats McClellan in the presidential
  election
• April 2, 1865
• Petersburg Richmond fall to the Union army
• April 9, 1865
• Lee surrenders in Appomattox Courthouse

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April 14, 1865 (Just 5 days after Lees
surrender) Lincoln was Assassinated At the Ford
Theater in Washington, D.C By John Wilkes
Booth- a southern actor, blamed Lincoln for the
Souths defeat
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After the War

• Reconstruction- After years of fighting,
  the time for the US to
• rebuild the South
• reunify the country