Fri, Mar 6 Chapters 1-2
Mon Mar 9 Chapters 3-5
Tue Mar 10 Chapters 6-9

Wed Mar 11 Chapters 10-13
Thur Mar 12 Chapters 14-17
Fri Mar 13 Chapters 18-21
Mon Mar 16 Chapters 22-24

A FEW NOTES ABOUT The Red Badge of Courage

I. Biography of Crane
-Born 1871 Newark, NJ.
-14th (and last) child in family.
-Father was Rev. Jonathan Crane, Methodist minister.
-Was noted for skepticism, kindness, and devotion to animals and sports.
-At college he focused on baseball, pool and poker.
-1893 published Maggie: A Girl of the Streets pseudonymously.
-1895 published The Red Badge of Courage as a book.
-1897-98 wrote “The Open Boat,” “ The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky” and “The Blue Hotel.”
-Met Cora Howorth Stewart (or Cora Taylor) and enjoyed her company and conversation. They stayed together.
-Traveled as a reporter to Mexico, Greece, Cuba, Puerto Rico, among other places.
-March 1900 leaned over to pat a dog and found his mouth full of blood. Died 3 months later.

II. Conflicts in The Red Badge of Courage
-Man vs. Himself - Henry’s internal struggle
-Man vs. Nature - The soldiers out in the elements, in the forest; their physical needs for food, water, etc.
-Man vs. Man - the battle itself and the soldiers’ struggle among themselves arguing
-Romantic vs. Realistic - Henry’s romantic ideas of war and heroes versus the reality of a not-so-pretty nor so heroic war

III. Point of View
-Story is written from the omniscient point of view although we mostly see things from Henry’s perspective.
-There are lots of references to point of view in the novel, as if point of view were itself a theme
-perhaps that a person’s point of view determines their own reality.

-Some point of view references:
a. Chapter 8, ¶ 7 “Reflecting, he saw a sort of humor in the point of view of himself and his fellow during the late encounter.”
b. Chapter 14, ¶ 15 “Apparently, the other had now climbed a peak of wisdom from which he could perceive himself as a very wee thing.”
c. Chapter 22, ¶ 13 “He was deeply absorbed as a spectator.”
d. Chapter 24, ¶ 14 “From this present view point he was enabled to look upon them in spectator fashion and to criticize them with some correctness, for his new condition had already defeated certain sympathies.”
e. Chapter 24 ¶ 15 “He spent delightful minutes viewing the gilded images of memory.”

IV. Structure of the novel
Chapters 1 - 5 Henry as thoughtful youth vs. rowdy and common regiment
Chapters 6 - 12 Henry is introduced to death in war and nature
Chapters 13 - 16 Wilson has matured; Henry is still an adolescent
Chapters 17 - 23 Henry matures and joins the battle on Wilson’s level; they both join completely with the regiment.
Chapter 24 Henry reflects on his experiences and summarizes his thoughts.