 Like Crane's first novel, "The Red Badge of Courage" has a deeply ironic tone which increases in severity as the novel progresses.The title of the work is ironic; Henry wishes "that he, too, had a wound, a red badge of courage", echoing a wish to have been wounded in battle.The wound he does receive (from the rifle butt of a fleeing Union soldier) is not a badge of courage but a badge of shame.