Many of Stephen Crane's passions in life greatly influenced his writing of The Red Badge of Courage, particularly his obsession with war. The Red Badge of Courage was Crane's first book about war and is probably his most successful book. His book consisted of so many different writing styles that scholars did not know how to classify it. These writing styles include realism, naturalism, symbolism, and impressionism. In fact many Civil War veterans, although Crane, had fought in the Civil War himself. However Crane was born only a few years after the end of the war. This speaks to the prestige of realism in Crane's book. Before Crane began as a writer, he was born in Newark, New Jersey on November 1, 1871 to Mary Helen Crane and the Reverend Dr. Jonathan Townley Crane. Before Crane published his first novel Maggie: A Girl of The Streets in 1893, he was flunked out of both Lafayette College and Syracuse University. Although he flunked out of school when Crane died in 1900, when he was twenty-eight, he wrote six novels, about a hundred short stories, two books of poetry, and a voluminous War Journalism and Correspondence (GCE). Not only did Crane's writings focus on war, but his life revolved around his fascination with war. On multiple occasions Crane traveled to various countries to witness the Spanish-American War, the Greek-Turkish conflict, and an insurrection in Cuba. During many subsequent trips, she wrote about the war with vivid realism like the realism found in The Red Badge of courage. Like Crane, writers of the 1890s also wrote with realism, and among these writers Crane was one of the most influential (EWB). Through these writing methods Crane examines the main character's reaction to an extreme situation... middle of paper... Encyclopedia of American Literature. vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 2009. 348-352. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Network. March 5, 2014. Crane, Stephen. The red badge of courage. New York: Penguin, 2005. Print.Toler, Pamela. “The red badge of courage”. War literature. Ed. Tommaso Riggs. vol. 2: Experiences. Detroit: St. James Press, 2012. 80-82. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Network. 5 March 2014. "The red badge of courage". Literary themes for students: War and peace. Ed. Anne Marie Hacht. vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 2006. 439-450. Literary themes for students. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Network. 5 March 2014. "The red badge of courage". Novels for students. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski. vol. 4. Detroit: Gale, 1998. 253-275. Gale's quest for power. Network. March 5, 2014. “Stephen Crane.” Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Gale biography in context. Network. March 5. 2014.