Why Should The Red Badge Of Courage Be Banned Essay

Many books have been banned in the past including The Red Badge of Courage by Stephan Crane. This novel follows a young man named Henry Fleming in his first battle of the Civil War. He internally clashes with the idea if he should stay and fight in the battle or if he should run away from the battlefield. Once the Confederates charged for a second time, Henry chose to run away from the battle which he soon regretted and he wished "he had a bloody bandage, a Red Badge of Courage"("Florida Officials Yield On Book Ban"). After he ran away from the battle he became obsessed with fighting in the war. Some books were banned not because of content but they were banned for the accuracy of the content which leads to the over arching question that is

Even though Crane was not alive for the Civil War and he had no military experience while writing The Red Badge of Courage that should not be enough for the book to be banned. Although it would be a good idea to inform every reader that the author was not in the war nor was he alive during the war. That way every reader will know that this novel is fiction based on a non fiction event that is the Civil War. There is violent themes in the book because it is about war so therefore, violent themes should be expected. An example of violence is on page 89 "The men dropped here and there like bundles. The captain of the youth’s company had been killed in an early part of the action. His body lay stretched out in the position of a tired man resting, but upon his face there was an astonished and sorrowful look, as if he thought some friend had done him an ill turn" (Crane) War is violent. This is not a reason to ban The Red Badge of Courage because violence is expected in a war

For some people they are offended by language in the book but, banning a book for language would be against the freedom of speech in the United States. It could also be argued that Crane didn't live or fight in the Civil War so he can't write a book that is so detailed with fictional information which has been stated earlier. The Red Badge of Courage should be kept out of elementary and middle schools because it has more mature themes and language and High Schoolers are able to have a much calmer mindset when reading and they understand the horrors of