The Red Badge of Courage: An Episode of the American Civil War
1895
The Red Badge of Courage: An Episode of the American Civil War
1895
What if courage isn't what you think it is? Stephen Crane's 1895 masterpiece follows Henry Fleming, a young Union soldier who enlisted chasing glory but discovers that war is not the heroic adventure he imagined. When battle erupts, Henry's fear overcomes him and he runs. Wounded but alive, he slinks back to his regiment to face the shame of his comrades and the agonizing question: can he ever prove himself worthy of the uniform? Crane's prose plunges directly into the raw psychological landscape of a soldier's mind, rendering fear and flight with unflinching honesty. The "red badge of courage" may be a wound, or it may be a bitter joke at the heart of every young man who ever marched toward battle believing something false about himself. This is the book that changed war literature forever, stripping away the romantic mythology to reveal the terrifying, shameful, quietly devastating truth of what combat does to the human soul.
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“It was not well to drive men into final corners; at those moments they could all develop teeth and claws.””
— Stephen Crane
“He vaguely desired to walk around and around the body and stare; the impulse of the living to try to read in dead eyes the answer to the Question.””
— Stephen Crane
“But he said, in substance, to himself that if the earth and moon were about to clash, many persons would doubtless plan to get upon the roofs to witness the collision.””
— Stephen Crane
“Over the river a golden ray of sun came through the hosts of leaden rain clouds.””
— Stephen Crane
“A serious prophet upon predicting a flood should be the first man to climb a tree. This would demonstrate that he was indeed a seer.””
— Stephen Crane
“They were going to look at war, the redanimal--war, the blood-swollen god.””
— Stephen Crane
“So it came to pass that as he trudged from the place of blood and wrath his soul changed.””
— Stephen Crane
“A man with a full stomach and the respect of his fellows had no business to scold about anything that he might think to be wrong in the ways of the universe, or even with the ways of society. Let the unfortunates rail; the others may play marbles.””
— Stephen Crane
“And it was as if fate had betrayed the soldier. In death it exposed to his enemies that poverty which in life he had perhaps concealed from his friends.””
— Stephen Crane
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<a href="https://lex-books.com/book/the-red-badge-of-courage-an-episode-of-the-american-civil-war-de765453-2a45-4dde-9e74-b737659d9dd2"><img src="https://lex-books.com/badges/read-on-lex.svg" alt="Read The Red Badge of Courage: An Episode of the American Civil War by Stephen Crane free on Lex" width="160" height="40"></a>[](https://lex-books.com/book/the-red-badge-of-courage-an-episode-of-the-american-civil-war-de765453-2a45-4dde-9e74-b737659d9dd2)[url=https://lex-books.com/book/the-red-badge-of-courage-an-episode-of-the-american-civil-war-de765453-2a45-4dde-9e74-b737659d9dd2][img]https://lex-books.com/badges/read-on-lex.svg[/img][/url]Read The Red Badge of Courage: An Episode of the American Civil War by Stephen Crane free on Lex: https://lex-books.com/book/the-red-badge-of-courage-an-episode-of-the-american-civil-war-de765453-2a45-4dde-9e74-b737659d9dd2Cite this book
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Crane, Stephen. The Red Badge of Courage: An Episode of the American Civil War. Lex, lex-books.com/book/the-red-badge-of-courage-an-episode-of-the-american-civil-war-de765453-2a45-4dde-9e74-b737659d9dd2.Crane, S. (1895). The Red Badge of Courage: An Episode of the American Civil War. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/the-red-badge-of-courage-an-episode-of-the-american-civil-war-de765453-2a45-4dde-9e74-b737659d9dd2Crane, Stephen. The Red Badge of Courage: An Episode of the American Civil War. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/the-red-badge-of-courage-an-episode-of-the-american-civil-war-de765453-2a45-4dde-9e74-b737659d9dd2.
