Product Review: The Red Badge of Courage (OT) (book, 2 movies, free audio book, Cliff's Notes)

The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane (independently published 15 December 2019 [originally published 1895], 108 pages, $6.75, 11 years and up)

From Cowardice to Courageous? (In One Book, Two Movies, a Free Audiobook, plus Study Guides)

The Red Badge of Courage has been read by countless students (required reading), viewed in the movie or made-for-TV version by countless more, and listened to by others. 

A Classic

The Red Badge tells the story of a young soldier in the Union Army during the Civil War. If you haven't read it, you are at least familiar with it, probably in book form. Now is the time to read it: it is fairly short. 

Two Movies and . . . !

If you can't find it anywhere (even your local public library), why not watch the movie? The 1951 version stars that most decorated WW2 veteran Audie Murphy and is available on Kanopy while the newer, made-for-TV version with 'John-Boy' Richard Thomas is available on YouTube (originally shown on 3 December and lasting 1 hour, 14 minutes). Because I had misplaced my copy of the book, I watched the 1974 movie prior my Veterans Book Group Zoom meeting - then I listened to the free audiobook version (if you have 4 hours and 45 minutes, listen free here on LibriVox) and even read part of the very helpful SparkNotes (similar to CliffsNotes). Then, would you believe it: I found the book the day after we discussed it!

190,000 Expendables (the 1974 movie)

It was spring, 1863, in Virginia near the banks of the Rapidan River. The ragtag New York 304th company of mule drivers and mud diggers morph into guidon bearers within the space of two days, albeit with numerous flashbacks. The music is such, all the way through, that you realize how familiar it is, along with "Charge!" and "Fire at Will!" and perhaps even "My First and Last Battle."

Thinking, enlisting, a long goodbye to Mom with her numerous admonitions to be careful and to not do anything he would regret later, our hero sets off for battle and to prove himself a man in glorious battle.

The first long conversation took place the night before the set-piece battle with Private Henry Fleming (referred to as The Youth) wondering out loud if anyone in the regiment will run or if they will stand and fight. "Will I be good enough? Will I be a brave soldier? Or will I run?"*

Crane wrote Red Badge in 1895, when he was 21, too young to have experienced the Civil War so the fact that he 'got a lot of it right,' is commendable: a realistic description of the monotony of war (99% waiting, 1% fighting). Hurry up and wait. Impatient men. 

While marching off to battle, there is plenty of time to ponder. And to worry. And to write the final letter home, giving it to a Battle Buddy, just in case. Some things change in the army but some things never change: you fight for your buddy, that fellow next to you.

The characters, the actors, including the general, the colonel, the lieutenant, the tall soldier, the loud soldier, the youth, the private - this is what we know them by, more so then by their names. This makes The Red Badge of Courage timeless, for all times and for all readers.

War Flowers Bursting into Fierce Bloom

"A dog, a woman and a walnut tree: the more you beat 'em, the better they be" (Ch. 16) was a quote two of us highlighted.

And as for cowardice turning to courage, the protagonist "coming of age," becoming a man - our group disagreed. Some believed he really did evolve into a (reckless) hero while others felt he wanted to atone for his cowardice by dying quickly and gloriously - hence, becoming the guidon bearer up front in the battle.

If you haven't read The Red Badge in a long time, read it again. If you have never read it, now would be a good time since it is part of our collective knowledge as a military nation. If it isn't required reading for all military leadership courses, it should be. And if you can't read it (it may be slow for some people), try the audio version or one of the movies.

1951 Movie

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*I never wondered this when I was on my way to Afghanistan in 2007 and doubt if many others did (except possibly for infantrymen and the like), if I believe my fellow soldiers who later talked about the book.