3 Review(s)

Stephan Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage puts the readers in the shoes of Private Henry Fielding, a young soldier who naively enlisted to fight in the American Civil War. Known for its gritty depiction of the war, the novel addresses several themes such as existentialism, idealism, bravery, and fear. Crane was inspired to the novel as he felt that literary portrayals of the war at the time failed to provide readers with a first-hand account of the experience. The novel is a timeless depiction of the struggles of a soldier.