The Red Badge of Courage

The Red Badge of Courage

Stephen Crane’s
The Red Badge of Courage
Josh Nicolay
12/2/98
English 10 Grade
Tell me what you think of this essay if
you use it Email me at nicolay@nac.net



The Red Badge of Courage
“A brilliant work of the imagination that will endure for centuries.” The Red
Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane is a piece of literature excellence and
accomplishment by one of the most skilled impressionistic writers of today.
The Red Badge of Courage was written during the changing world of the turn
of the century. The middle years of the 1890’s had been a period of business
depression but conditions began to improve in 1897 and most Americans were
optimistic. The Civil War had been over for nearly thirty-five years. The veterans of
the war, who had been young men in 1865, were now the middle-aged leaders of
business and politics.
The country was still very rural and old-fashioned in spirit, even though there
were many signs of change. Independence Day was celebrated with fireworks and
parades in every small town. Most houses were still light by gas and refrigeration
was achieved with the aid of the iceman and large cakes of ice. Horses were
everywhere pulling all kinds of carriages and wagons, but there were 14,000 auto¬
mobiles and the number was growing (Felding,Frank pg.2).
The frontier had all but vanished by 1890, which had been moving steadily
westward for generations. Industry, for the first time became more important then
agriculture. By 1900 there were 185 large industrial combinations with total capi¬
talization of $3,000,000,000 and represent one-third of the nation's enterprises
(Felding,Frank pg.3).
Great athletes such as Jim Thorpe, Lou Gehrig, Ty Cobb, Cy Young, and
Babe Ruth would all play their part in shaping the modern world. The U.S. greeted
the 20th century with confidence. Watching its territory expand coast to coast and
beyond. The population had reached 70,000,000 in 1900 double what it had been in
1870(Felding,...