Reviews for The Red Badge of Courage and Selected Short Fiction (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)

The average rating for The Red Badge of Courage and Selected Short Fiction (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-02-23 00:00:00 Daniel Beale Imagine No More Wars My introduction to Civil War novels was "Cold Mountain" by Charles Frazier. After reading it I kept looking for another and found "Wilderness" by Lance Weller. Yet, neither of these books were really about the war. The first was a book about a man walking home from the war, the second was just a few flashbacks. It was the adventures in these two books that I loved, the walking away, and the walking of a man who was looking for his stolen dog. I never thought that I would actually read a book on the battle itself, but when a friend said that she was reading "The Red Badge of Courage" and that it was a Civil War novel,to t I thought to give it a try. After all, I had always heard of the book. I Just didn't know what it was about. The author was never in the Civil War but was born in 1871, after the war had ended, and he didn't write this book until 1895, a few years before his death. I thought about that: Men were dying in the war at the young age of 18 or round. They never really had a life, and the author died at the age of 28 of tuberculosis. When I think of my living so far to be 77, I think that he never really had a life either. This book was heart wrenching in so many ways. I wanted to say that this war was futile because so many young men had died, so many laid out in the fields wounded and in pain. So many felt fear in their hearts of what lay before them. Was it futile? It felt senseless to me. I talked with my husband about this, and he explained to me how it had to be fought because the other side wasn't going to back down. He is right. Then he said that in Nam, he had seen these words on a wall in an outhouse: "Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity." It stayed with him all these years, and he added that war seldom brings real peace because it leaves the losers feeling hostile. I have always been confused about the Civil War, yes, it freed the slaves, and that was a good thing, a very good thing, but the south is still racist, and after that war they still murdered the freed slaves, they became sharecroppers and were really not free. Nor are they totally freed today. And some in the south desire to have another Civil War, and some out of stupidity still play Civil War games. Blacks are being murdered in the streets by the police, and it just goes on and on. Yet, I know that the Civil War was fought for other reasons as well. When reading this book, I thought of the young boys being given guns, having to wear their own clothes, and having those clothes fall apart on them. I thought of their being shot and lying on the fields with no medical help. I thought of their dying and having no real life. I thought of their fear, and how some ran away, leaving them with guilt in their hearts. And in time, my mind became numb, and I hardly knew what I was reading anymore. And then I thought of what Jesus had said, if he really said it, and it is as true today as it ever was, "Forgive them Father for they know not what they do." Last of all I thought of the antiwar songs that were sung in the 60s: Imagine Imagine there's no heaven It's easy if you try No hell below us Above us only sky Imagine all the people Living for today. Imagine there's no countries It isn't hard to do Nothing to kill or die for And no religion, too Imagine all the people Living life in peace. You may say I'm a dreamer But I'm not the only one I hope someday you'll join us And the world will be as one Imagine no possessions I wonder if you can No need for greed or hunger A brotherhood of man Imagine all the people Sharing all the world. You may say I'm a dreamer But I'm not the only one I hope someday you'll join us And the world will live as one written by John Lennon

Review # 2 was written on 2018-01-23 00:00:00 Steve Burgard Normally I reserve one star ratings for books I DNF'd. This, being a school book, is an exception. However, I cannot tell you how much I hated it. The writing style is atrocious. I have never seen such overuse of the past participle in all my life. Everything was "were hanging, was running, was looking, was talking." EVERYTHING. It got so old so fast. The similes are awful (I found only one that made me say "Wow, that's a good simile!") and the rest of it...ugh. Ugh. Ugh. The one thing that made this book at all enjoyable was the young lieutenant. All he did was swear (the words weren't written out) but he was hilarious and stupid while still being brave on the battlefield. But that guy isn't enough to take this book up to two stars for me. No, my biggest problem is with the protagonist and the representation. Henry Fleming, our "hero," is the most irritating jerk of a protagonist I have ever read. I have never in my life wished that an MC would die more. I still can't believe he came through the book completely unscathed. He lied, he mistreated his mother, he didn't care about his fellows, he ran away from the fight, he let himself get hit over the head by one of his OWN men and told his regiment he was valiantly shot by a rebel, he schemes to use a package given to him by his friend (who trusts him and likes him) as leverage AGAINST said friend, despite the fact that this friend is one of the only likeable characters in the book. And then about halfway through he has a sudden change in heart and suddenly thinks of himself as a hero. He leads the charges. He carries the colors. He holds his regiment. AND I DON'T GET IT! This doesn't even start to deal with how problematic this soldier representation is. Stephen Crane, when I looked it up, was out to write a "psychological picture of fear", but he went overboard. So, so overboard. The soldiers in this book are cowards and fearful, running away when it gets to be too hard and so often refusing to fight. They make fun of each other. They stab each other in the back. And sure, maybe some soldiers are like that, but I've seen enough Civil War movies and read enough books about it (as well as any other war, come on) to know that soldiers are more often than not heroes. They're not perfect, they're not superhuman, but they're selfless and brave. And this book made me angry because it portrayed the entire Union army as a bunch of useless, cowardly idiots. I don't recommend this book to anyone. I'm not really sure why it became a classic. But oh well. Now I've read it, and hopefully I never have to think about it again.