The Red of Courage by Stephen Crane

I never had to read The Red Badge of Courage for school or anything like that. I seem to remember it being mentioned in an episode of The Brady Bunch, but I couldn't find anything with a quick visit to Google. It tells the story of a young Union Army recruit as he goes into his first battle. It seems to do a good job of showing what the battle (unmentioned, but supposedly Chancellorsville) must have been like for an infantryman. We learn about the overview of battles from history books, but for someone in the trenches (sometimes literally) without the hindsight of history, a battle involves a lot of waiting and a lot of getting shot at, but little understanding of the plans of the generals.

I was surprised how "psychological" the book was. The story is largely about the feelings of its main character, the fictitious Henry Fleming. In some ways it seemed to be "too psychological". A large part of the book is Henry wondering how he would respond under the pressure of battle, and whether or not he'd have the "courage" to stand. This isn't to say that it's not normal under the circumstances, but the mood swings are fast and furious. There's a lot of "He felt great. No, he felt miserable. No, he was master of the world" or whatever.

Three stars.