The Red Badge Of Courage By Stephen Crane Essay

Stephen Crane once quoted, “Sometimes the most profound of awakenings come wrapped in the quietest moments.” I find this quote to be very true in the way Crane lived his short but remarkable life. Stephen Crane was a prolific writer of fiction and poetry, whose realistic style influenced American literature for many years after his death (“Stephen Crane” 123HelpMe.com). His life was considered spontaneous, adventurous, and spunky compared to other famous American authors. He was able to change the face of literature forever through his works on Maggie and The Red Badge of Courage.

Stephen Crane was born on November 1st, 1871, as the youngest of fourteen children to Jonathan Townley Crane and his wife Mary (“Stephen Crane”). He grew up in Newark, New Jersey where his father was the presiding minister of the Methodist church (“The Red Badge of Courage”). While he was growing up, he was practically raised by his older sister Agnes who was fifteen years older than Crane (“Stephen Crane” Bio). Agnes was responsible for Crane’s education throughout his

The pages of Maggie were forfeited with topics like brutality, alcoholism, prostitution, and suicide (“Stephen Crane”). The book was so shocking that publishers feared that Crane’s description of the slum life would shock readers, so he published it himself in 1893 (“Stephen Crane” Bio.com). Maggie broke ground as one of the first novels to use the city and its “all-too-real” slums as a setting (“Stephen Crane”). Arena writer Hamlin Garland published a review on Maggie calling it, “the most truthful and unhackneyed study of the slums I have yet read” (“Stephen Crane” Bio.com). Unfortunately after that review, Maggie failed to garner any further attention which left Crane penniless (“Stephen Crane”