Red Badge of Courage Critical Review Analisis

The critical review that I have read says that The Red Badge of Courage was the most realistic depiction of the civil war. The story was written after the Civil War and yet it still manages to capture the feelings and attitude of the entire thing. I would agree that the story was very realistic and factual. It was very interesting and from what I know about the war, was very true. The story was very descriptive, especially about the soldier’s mental state of mind and what they thought about during the war. The critical review says, though the novel treats war realistically, it is primarily a psychological portrayal of Henry's terrifying experience of combat during two days. I would definitely agree with this. There was not much action in the story and it even got kind of boring because nothing would ever happen. The story was all in Henry's mind. I did not enjoy this and thought it needed more action and fighting to keep the reader interested in the story. This would have made the story much more enjoyable in my opinion and would have made me much more interested in the story line of the book. The author of the critical review says that he is not sure if Henry has developed in to a hero by the end of the story. I would have to say that Henry is indeed a hero by the time the story reaches its conclusion. Henry has gone so far from when he first joined the battle. He has a completely different mental state of mind, and makes a difference in the war. Henry did not know what to do at first, but by the end of The Red Badge of Courage, he has changed and developed in to a completely different person. Henry finally found his courage and is now one of the best fighters in his division. I think that he developed in to a hero. I think that I agree with most points made in the literary analysis that I have read about The Red Badge of Courage.

The Red Badge of Courage 9-20

The Red Badge of Courage was much more enjoyable in chapters 9-20. The story picked up and had much more action and adventure. It was a much more enjoyable read for me. Henry actually did not run away from his problems, but he learned to stand his ground and fight. This made the book have much more action and it became very exciting as Henry developed in to the best fighter in his division. I think the author did a very good job developing Henry's character as the story progressed. The young soldier changed a lot as the story progressed. Henry went from a cowardice, scared soldier, to a fearless fighter. He was one of the best in his division, and his commander even told him, If every soldier fought like you then this war would be over in no time. This probably meant a lot to Henry. It was never that Henry couldn't fight, it was just that he never had confidence in himself. Once he gained confidence in himself, Henry was afraid of nothing. He learned that he could defeat anyone and could be the best fighter. He definitely was after he gained the confidence in himself. I thought it was very cool how Henry picked up the flag in battle and carried it for his troop. He saw that his fellow soldier had been killed so Henry got the flag and carried it for the division. This was very important and symbolic. Henry kind of became the leader of the troop when this happened. He was already the best fighter, but this just made it even better for Henry. The Red Badge of Courage was much more enjoyable overall in the second half of the story. Henry finally realized what he had to do and this made the story much more entertaining. I did not think that Henry would ever find his courage to fight, but I was clearly wrong. Henry eventually realized what was best for the army and for himself.

Red Badge of Courage 1-8

After reading chapters one through eight of The Red Badge of Courage, I am not a fan of the book so far. The story is very drawn out and does not really seem to go anywhere. For all the writing that is done, nothing really happened in the story. It is about a boy who enlists in the army. The young soldier is an coward and is afraid to fight. He is constantly worrying about whither or not he will fight, or run. He asks other people what they will do when the fighting comes to hear their opinions. I hope we do not have men as cowardly as this fighting for our country today. Granted, this man had no prior training, but he still should have the courage to stand his ground and fight for what he believes in. I do not think that I would have much trouble staying to fight. Especially if it was my idea to enlist in the army. This is what I do not understand about it. It was the boy's decision to enlist in the army, then when he gets there he does not want to do any of the dirty work. He should have thought his decision through a little better before he got in to that situation. It is kind of a big deal to risk you life for something you believe in, so if you are not willing to do so, you should not try to fake it. The Red Badge of Courage is not extremely interesting so far. I hope there will be some more action in the upcoming chapters. It would be a decent novel if there was more going on. I also think that the boy will become more strong and less cowardly as the story goes on. I think he will stand up for what he believes in and will learn to fight instead of run. Overall The Red Badge of Courage is an okay story and I hope it will pick up in the upcoming chapters.

Field Trip

I thought the Veterans Day field was very fun and exciting. I thought it was very educational and was an overall good experience. I found that everyone was very respectful and had a good time. I liked the fact that we went many different places and did not just do one thing all day. This made the day much more enjoyable and time consuming. I think that we should go on more field trips as a school. I think that everyone would agree that the day was a success, and no one got into much trouble. Since we all behaved so well, I think it would be a good idea to go on an all school field trip more often. It was much better than actual day of normal school would have been, and I feel that I learned the same amount that I would on an average day at school. I hate going through the exact same routine everyday at school and I feel that a field trip on occasion would be a nice change of scenery. My favorite stop on Friday was definitely Camp Lincoln. This stop was very interesting and fun. We got to see all of the guns and artillery used in the past and present wars. I thought this was very intriguing to learn about. We could see how guns and uniform have developed over time and wars. This was very cool and was by far the best stop in my opinion. The trip was entertaining and proved that our school can handle an all school field trip because of the quality student and teachers that we have here. I do not think that many other schools could have handled that responsibility and have done as well as we did on the trip. I found our school’s overall behavior to be exceptional and very mature. Overall the trip was very a very big success and I hope that we will be attending another one very soon.

When Dreaming Seems Real

I can not really remember any of the dreams that I have had recently. I honestly have not been dreaming a lot in my sleep, and if I have, then I can not remember what I dreamt about. I used to have dreams all the time that I could remember. Back a few years ago I would have crazy dreams all the time, but I can not remember the last time I have had one that I can remember. I would dream about all kinds of crazy things a few years ago. It went from baseball to fighting to nightmares. I could remember my dreams all the time. I day dream all the time now though. I will be sitting in class and just stare out the window or at the wall lost in my thoughts. I often do not realize that I am doing this until after a minute or so. I try not to do this when we are doing something important in school, but sometimes I cannot help it. I do not actually fall asleep in school but I do day dream a lot. When I day dream it is kind of an escape for me. It is just a temporary escape from what is going on all around me. I will not really think about anything particular, but I will just relax and try to forget all my problems. I find day dreaming can be very relaxing and helpful, especially if you have a lot of stress on yourself. It is a good escape and just lets you take your mind off your troubles for a few minutes. I will sometimes just think about all my problems and think about what I am going to do to fix whatever is wrong. Other times I will reflect on what is going on very well in my life and I will just think about what I did to make that happen. I like to day dream and I do it often. As far a real dreaming goes, I do not think that I have been doing it recently. If I have then I can not remember it.

My Favorite Tall Tale

I can honestly say that I do not have a favorite tall tale. I can not remember the last time that I have read a tall tale or heard one. I really have no opinion of them. I remember a long time ago we used to read tall tales in school, but I do not really remember many of them very well. I remember there was one about Paul Bunion, Jack and the Beanstalk, and there was Jonny Appleseed. These are some of the more well known tall tales. I also remember one about a black man who worked for the railroad and he challanged a machine to see who could do the job faster. The man won, but he died after he did so. I do not remember what this tall tale was called, but I'm going to say that it was my favorite. It was a very good story from what I can remember from it. I enjoyed this tall tale the most back in the day, even though the name is escaping me at the moment. I think tall tales were very interesting to read. I would prefer reading them in comparison to Moby Dick or some other highly acclaimed story that I have no real intrest in. Tall tales were always interesting and at least kept me entertained. I can not say the same for The Grapes of Wrath, Moby Dick, etc. I think we should spend more time on the subject. I have not heard a tall tale in a very long time and I think it would be very benificial to my education if we spent a few months on the subject. Maybe dedicate an entire quarter or semester to the subject? My favorite tall tale was definently the one about the man who out preformed the machine in the railroad contest. This was very entertaining and a fun read. I do not know the title to this story, but it was the best tall tale that I have ever heard.

Vengence

I think everyone has felt vengeance many times throughout their life. It is a feeling that everyone will go through more than once. If someone does something bad to you on purpose, then your going to want to get vengeance on them. Revenge is not good. Every one will feel the need to get revenge on someone if that person has wronged the other, but it should be avoided at all costs. It is human nature to want to get even at someone if they have hurt you in some way. There are two options if you are feeling vengeance/revenge. You can either let your emotions control your self, or you can control you emotions and be the bigger man. I think the latter option is the best one. It is not always easy to just let something go but this is the best thing you can do. Nothing good can happen if you retaliate on someone. This might feel like the best option at the time, but you will probably end up getting in more trouble than the other person. Even though I know this I am sure that I will retaliate sometime in the near future. It is very hard not to. I find that I can control it sometimes if it is not a big dead. But if someone really makes me mad, I will find it necessary to get vengeance on that person if they have really angered me. I do not think that I personally would do any thing bad to someone if I was getting revenge on them. I definitely would not do anything worse to the other person than what they have done to me. Sometimes I can control myself though and I find that it is usually better when I do. People will learn to respect you more if you try to be the bigger man and do not retaliate. Ill be the first to admit that it is not easy, but you will feel much better about yourself if you do.

My Greatest Fear

This is a very tough question for me to answer. I normally try not to think about things that scare me therefore I am not sure what is the biggest fear for me. I used to have a fear of speaking in front of people but this is no longer a big deal for me. I would probably have to say that my biggest fear is dieing. I do not like the idea of it and is scares me very much. I know it will happen eventually, but I do not want it to happen any time soon. This scares me more than anything I can think of. I like my life and I do not want to leave everything that I have. I am Christian and its my life goal to get to heaven, but I do not want to go anytime soon. I love my life and I think that leaving any time soon would not be good. Other than this, I can not think of anything that I am really scared of. I used to have a lot of stupid fears a long time ago, but I have grown out of that. Spiders, snakes, bats, bugs, clowns do not really scare me. These are some common fears but I do not really understand why. The more I think about dieing, the more I do not want it to happen any time soon. I love living and I try to make the best of my life. I always try to have fun with life and be the best person that I can be. I do not want to give that up anytime soon. If I was depressed or did not care about anything then maybe that would be a different story. But I do care about a lot of things and I think that I have a lot to live for. I do not want to die until I am very old for that reason. I love living and that is why I fear death.

Peaceful Protest

I think that peaceful protests are very important. A peaceful protest can be very motivational. It is much more safe than a violent protest, and I think it can also get more done. When a peaceful protest takes place usually people will listen to what the people or group has to say. Everyone will listen and at least consider what the people are going through. When a violent protest takes place, people do not listen to what they have to say. The group and their ideals are almost automatically disregarded and are considered corrupt. Violent protests do not often do as much as a peaceful one does. Peaceful protests have been around forever, and are very important to the United States. When segregation was a problem, the African Americans used peaceful protests to get their point across and it was very successful. They would participate in, sit-ins and boycott things to get what they wanted. Martin Luther King Jr. did not approve of violent protests so they chose to act non violently and it ended up being very successful. I think that non-violent protests are a very good way to get your point across. People will listen to you if you have a big group of people acting non violently for the same cause. I hope that people will continue to use peaceful protests to get their messages across because it is very effective and is also the safest way to go about doing so. Violence will only result in injury or death to someone and will anger the public. Violent protests will always result in enemies being made of some sort. By using nonviolent protests people can relax and listen to what is being said. It is very hard to listen and understand what someone is fighting for if they are going to be violent about it. It is very east to understand and listen if someone is peaceful about it. A peaceful protest will always have a better result than a violent one.

Importance of Self Reflection

I think it is very important to self reflect and take a break from society from time to time. Everyone gets caught up in their daily routines in society and never take time to self reflect. I admit that I am guilty of this. I often do not take time out of my day to self reflect and evaluate what I have been doing lately. Like today's society I am always in a hurry or rushing to do something. I need to take more time to reflect on what has been going on in my life. I think that by doing this I can be better prepared for the next day and I can try to improve on things that I may have not done well on the day previously. Using self reflection will allow you to take time and think about how to fix all the things going wrong in your life. Self reflection will also allow one to think about all the things that are going well in their life. You can evaluate you behaviors, good or bad, and try to find out what you can do to make your self a better person. Everyone needs a break from the stresses of their everyday life. If you do not eventually take a break from everything then all the stress will add up and make you feel even worse. This is why I think that everyone needs to take a break eventually. I believe that when you do self reflect and take a break from society and the stresses of everyday life you should do it without anything electronic. You can not truly escape with your T.V. on or with your cell phone constantly going off. If you are really going to self reflect and take a break then it needs to be done without the use of technology. I do not think it matters how long you take a break as long as you make a good effort to do so and it makes a difference to you. Everyone needs to self reflect from time to time.