The Red Badge of Courage
The Red Badge of Courage is a war novel by American author Stephen Crane (1871–1900). Taking place during the American Civil War, the story is about a young private of the Union Army, Henry Fleming, who flees from the field of battle. Overcome with shame, he longs for a wound, a "red badge of courage," to counteract his cowardice. When his regiment once again faces the enemy, Henry acts as standard-bearer. Although Crane was born after the war, and had not at the time experienced battle first-hand, the novel is known for its realism. He began writing what would become his second novel in 1893, using various contemporary and written accounts (such as those published previously by Century Magazine) as inspiration. It is believed that he based the fictional battle on that of Chancellorsville; he may also have interviewed veterans of the124th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment, commonly known as the Orange Blossoms. Initially shortened and serialized in newspapers in December 1894, the novel was published in full in October 1895. A longer version of the work, based on Crane's original manuscript, was published in 1982. The novel is known for its distinctive style, which includes realistic battle sequences as well as the repeated use of color imagery, and ironic tone. Separating itself from a traditional war narrative, Crane's story reflects the inner experience of its protagonist (a soldier fleeing from combat) rather than the external world around him.
Stats for nerds
2recommend
11mentions
11people
2010–2025years
18% recommend64% neutral18% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- I would also suggest the childrens books Cheaper by the Dozen, The Musicians of Brennan, Morris' Disappearing Bag and The Red Badge of Courage.
I'd maybe throw in some of the little house on the prairie books as well, especially the one where they all almost froze to death.
I think being able to appreciate books as an adult is pretty contingent on being exposed to good books as a youth.
- Yup, official military reading lists include a fair bit of fiction. Recent ones that I can think of are Ghost Fleet, Starship Troopers, Enders Game, Red Badge of Courage, The Orphan Master's Son, The Kite Runner.
The really nice thing is that since many of those lists are refreshed yearly, they are an ongoing fountain of interesting books. Good stuff!
- The education system is already a relic of the past. All the points mentioned in the article assumes that a classroom full of students writing five-paragraph essays on The Red Badge of Courage in 12-point TNR with one-inch margins, hastily graded by an overworked, underpaid public school teacher is still the best way to teach kids in 2025 about critical thinking.
I picture going forward we'll have much more personalized AI-led curricula that students work on at their own pace. The AI systems can let you use as much or as little AI autocompletion as they feel appropriate, can test your understanding real-time by adding some subtle mistakes or opportunities for improvement, and iterate until you get it.
The main issue I worry about is perhaps the opposite. With education actually becoming more effective and interesting, what happens to kids' social and collaboration skills? And maybe that's where human teachers can still add value. Or in discipline and motivation, etc. IDK exactly how that plays out, but I imagine there's still a role for human teachers to play, and perhaps that aspect is even more important than "lecturer" and "grader" that takes most of their time now.
- Of the past 100 years - so forget Main Street, Moby Dick, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Red Badge of Courage, and a great many others.
- This is more or less a horoscope.
I grew up reading a lot, but sort of ironically, I didn't exercise much discernment. I stayed mostly ignorant of the classics or Great Books. I suppose I've always had a short attention span, being more raised by TV than parents.
I recall in Kindergarten that I was chosen to come up to 1st grade and do an advanced reading project with a partner girl. I always got into the little reading boxes, I believe they were "SRA Reading Labs" and those were a lot of fun.
I had shelves full of books as a child, and I barely read them. I plowed through a lot of Choose Your Own Adventures, and some Encyclopedia Browns. The school library was good for Hardy Boys, which were sort of ridiculous even to 10-year-old me.
I've already detailed here how I used to sneak into a dry bathtub to read after bedtime.
I always read at breakfast. I would read the cereal boxes very carefully. Any nutrition panels on any food set before me was "food for thought". And it was traumatizing and dismaying! I knew we ate horrible food!!! We did every fad diet. My breakfast was cereal in lowfat. You know those commercials that say "part of this balanced breakfast" and they show OJ, fruit, toast, whatever? We got cereal in 2%, and GTFO it's time for school.
By high school, I was practicing some mighty avoidance. I remember never reading "The Red Badge of Courage" or Shakespeare or anything else that was assigned. I had a shelf full of bumblebee-colored Cliff's Notes, and that was that.
Sometimes I feel like I'd be happier if I were more ignorant. If I read less inquisitively and didn't burden myself with such knowledge. I have a lot of useless knowledge. Curiosity killed the cat.
I know some people who are disciplined enough to pick and choose what they read. I offered magazines to a neighbor. "No thanks," she said, "I only read stuff related to my doctorate program." Now that's someone who doesn't mess around.
- > I think it was all the deeper meaning analysis I was forced to do moreso than the book. It just seemed like we were going far beyond the author's intention in a joyless analysis exercise.
That was literally my entire high school honors English program. You must interpret everything, to the satisfaction of the English teacher, or else.
It quite reliably took people who absolutely loved reading and made them hate books. I'm not quite sure the point of it, really. It took me a decade after high school to read a fiction book again, and this is far from uncommon among those who suffered through it alongside me.
I don't remember a thing about Red Badge of Courage except I had to extract meaning from why the grass in this particular scene was green - to symbolize new life, hope, rebirth, etc.
