The Red Badge Of Courage Essay

When people think of great war books that actually realistically depicts the battles that rages on and what goes through a regular foot soldiers mind; what book pops into their minds? The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane pops into mine. Novelist Harold Frederic claimed, “impels the feeling that the actual truth about a battle has never been guessed before” (Weatherford, 116). Stephen Crane is considered one of the best writers of realism. Also he is remembered for his classic works in literary naturalism. The connection between Stephen Crane’s personal history and literary movement was by the way he saw the world. He saw the world realistically of how it was even though his life was short. Stephen Crane was a naturalist and one of the

Stephen Crane was born on November 1, 1871 in Newark, New Jersey (Stephen). He was the fourteenth and last child of Jonathan Townley Crane and Mary Helen Peck Crane. Only nine of the fourteen survived infancy. Religion was a major part in his life growing up. Crane’s father was a minister for a Methodist Church. Since his father was a minister for a Methodist Church they moved around a lot (Stephen). Growing up Crane was a sick magnet. He had poor health. Since he was always sick and the family moving around a lot, Crane was prevented him from enrolling in school until he was a eight years old (Stephen)! After his father passed Crane moved in with older

Crane had a curiosity in describing the psychological states of someone in the moment of combat. To satisfy that curiosity Crane took a new career as a war correspondent. In 1897, Crane set sail for Cuba to report on the uprising against Cuba’s government. The ship he was traveling on was the SS Commodore sank. Crane spent a day and a half adrift with three other men. His account of the ordeal resulted in one of the world's great short stories, "The Open Boat." This short story was depicted by actual events while adrift at