The Red Badge Of Honor Essay, Research Paper

Book Report

The Red Badge of Courage

By Stephen Crane

The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane (1871-1900) is the story of a young man named Henry Flaming (The Youth). The book happens in a forest, where the troops move from place to place. The meaning of the tittle The Red Badge of Courage means a wound that the main character receives in battle.

My favorite character in the book, is Jim Conklin (the tall soldier) He became Henry’s best friend in the Army and when they shoot Jim, Henry suffered al lot watching him dying. Jim was the one who changed Henry because he didn t feel fear any more after his friend died. “Th’army’s goin’ t’ move”, said Jim, this is when a rumor started, and that s when Henry and some other soldiers ran away.

In my opinion the most conflictive scene is that referring to Wilson (The loud soldier). He was rude and loud before but after he had a vision, in which he thinks he defeats death. After this experience Wilson changed a lot; he becomes more friendly and caring. It s extrange not to see Wilson come and shout that he d beaten death. “Well, I wanta do some fighting,”

“I didn’t come here to walk. I could ‘ave walked to home – ’round an’ ’round the barn, if I jest wanted to walk”, that motivated Henry more to fight.

The other most important scene is the one in which Henry deserts the battlefield. He was afraid of dying and thought the enemy was going to attack them from behind. After he left, and was walking in the woods he found Jim dying and starts to think that there is no reason to run from the battle. This was important because then, he found the other soldiers to fight with courage.

In my opinion the book is interesting, because shows how a young person betters himself. I would recommend this book to any young man who feels disoriented, confused or afraid of taking responsibilities