Critical Analysis Of The Red Badge Of Courage

Ethan Fromey

Mr. Cronk

English 11H

10 January 2023

The Red Badge Of Courage Critical Analysis

19th century writer Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge Of Courage has sought a new wave of popularity over the past century as it has been rediscovered and has been praised for its creative style, while others criticize his writing, claiming severe lack of detail amongst other things. The novel is also a lesson on how literary pieces can age overtime, seeing as how the novel was not a popular piece when it came out originally in 1895. Not becoming popular until the 1920’s time frame. The Red Badge Of Courage is a well recognized novel, however some critics are torn on the novel's structure and how it really relates to the real thing. Stephen Crane’s

From it swelled light smoke. Overhead the foliage moved softly. The leaves, with their faces turned toward the blaze, were colored shifting hues of silver, often edged with red. Far off to the right, through a window in the forest could be seen a handful of stars lying, like glittering pebbles, on the black level of the night.”(Crane 101) to convey a character's thoughts so that readers can gather an idea or understanding of the scene. The style that Crane wrote the novel in was so that we had to get information basically as the characters received it. There was very little background information that we as readers would get until the characters found it out for themselves. That is one of the reasons that people like to use this novel for school instruction because, once again, it gives the reader the ability to follow along with the story and understand what is happening (Cumberland

Although, others criticize his writing, claiming severe lack of detail amongst other key pieces to complete the novel's idea (Napierkowski 254). Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge Of Courage is a nationally renowned novel, however some claim the novel fails to depict the reality of the story, others claim his literary representation makes up for any lack of real war experience. Critics of today love that the themes are still applicable to today's literature, which makes this novel a great contender for popularity of today's time period (Napierkowski 265). The Red Badge Of Courage was a long shot simply considering the new style of its time period back in the 1800s, which is why it wasn't thought of as a popular novel until later in time (Cumberland 266). Overall, it is agreed that the novel was a hit and led to a completely new generation of literature due to its heavy influence, making it one of the most influential novels in the history of literature (Wolford