The Red Badge of Courage
When Steven Crane The Red Badge of Courage in 1895 said he never had in a while, talking about the American Civil War. Yet it is still considered one of the most accurate depictions of war in literature - a feature that only became a lot of Americans as "unpatriotic". Only when British critics praised the novel, was awarded to Americans Crane suggested that a war is no picnic in the park
The novel centers on Henry Fleming, also known as a youth, who expects the war poetry, size, courage and, above all measures - that, when the ladies welcome him home, ie. What he is not in their plans is the fact that war is boring when nothing happens, and frightening at any time to do something. While just re-launched its second round of the fight again and his relationship with young people, will live and run in the mountains.
During set up a cone at a squirrel in the woods, but the young people a revelation: Squirrel Do not stand there and unwavering in an honorable death to meet, so why should he? This revelation makes me somewhat clever, but as with most squirrel-based decisions in life, the mood takes just minutes. The young man then stumbles over a corpse, river practically dance with ants and other Epiphany: the world that matters is living or dying. Horrible it may be, it is also sort of relief, and he leads back into the fray.
Only through the realization of one) that his life is not so important in a wider perspective, and b) the decision to sacrifice their individuality to a larger concept (as the EU flag, the camaraderie, or U.S. history) young people can participate and influence the battle . That's right: the "self" really out of the picture makes the whole "Save yourself!" with minor problems. It's the same logic as you dive for the ball as a 300 pound man named Buck makes its way through your colleagues, you can either really prefer that the ball or really how to make your team.
Against this background it is no wonder that all the main characters in The Red Badge of Courage, both real name Henry, Jim, and Wilson and generic names, such as young people, Tall Soldier, Soldier, or Loud. Actually, Stephen Crane long before his time when he decided to write the presentation, a war novel that explores the personal struggles of soldiers instead of the entire motion civil war or the causes of civil war, but only by individual experiences, he was the process of becoming a cog in the " War Machine ". Not bad for a 20-year-old literary types, who probably was never even in a fight.
