My Thought on the "the Red Badge of Courage"

Nate Jones 12/12/04

English

My thought on the "the Red Badge of Courage"

When I was reading this book I was neutral at some points, negative and positive at others. This book showed character and realism which affected the way I thought about war. This book made me extend my vocabulary and parts of speech. It took a while to read this book, but even longer to understand the meaning. But all and all the book was neither bad nor good.

I thought this book was difficult because it used many word that were hard to understand and that forced me to pull out the dictionary which was irritating for the most part. I didn't enjoy the time it took to think and answer the questions. One of the worst parts would be when the characters talked in the 1800's lingo. This really disturbed me because they all talked using words such as y'all, I'll be a re'ken , and gawd. These words are not understandable at the 8th grade level . The book should be read in 9th or 10tth grade.

Things that made me feel neutral about the book were the thought and intention that was brought to this story with harsh conditions about war, medical, and poor food. This really inspired me to be thankful for what was fought for in the Civil War. This really made me think of what they mean when people say hardship of war. I was concerned for Henry at the beginning of the book because he thought it was going to be a short and easy war and he would be famous back home. The part that was upsetting is when Henry finds out what happens in war. This made him afraid at first then as the book progresses he begins to understand war and adapt. Soon he wants to get wounded which puzzled me because when you fight you want to win without being damage or hurt. As the book progressed I finally understood that he wanted to impress the civilians that he was in a war and he saved the Union.

Some positive things were he was in a war that helped save the Union. When Henry was in the war he ran away which disturbed me. What was amazing was when Henry saw squirrel and threw a pinecone at it, the squirrel ran. Henry saw that when the squirrel ran it was natural instinct so he gained momentum and pride.