Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage Essay

But in the second battle Henry flees from his comrades while they held the line as the rebels tried to push them out. The regiment ended up being the victors of the second battle too. But Henry was worried about what the other soldiers would say to him since he ran away from the battle. I believe Henry was always afraid of battle even before it started and when the enemy came sprinting towards him he was shocked and started to flee.

When the men regroup for the second attack, many of the Union soldiers around henry begin to run away. Henry gives into the pressure and joins in the retreat, he wasn’t prepared for the horror that war brings. As he’s running, he seems to observe everyone else around him. He sees his captain lying stretched on the ground, dead, the babbling man was grazed by a shot to the head, and another man grunted as he was struck in the stomach, along with many others that just started dropping to the ground. As Henry ran, he feared for his life that he was going to be struck in the back, but he continued running. The thought of self-preservation seemed more important to him than fighting with selflessness and bravery along with the other

In today’s issue, we will be covering all the major events that have transpired in The Red Badge of Courage as a sort of “catch-up” for new readers. Firstly, it all began when young Henry Fleming enlisted in the Union Army, wanting to fight for his country. He expects war to be thrilling and exciting, and for him to come back a decorated hero, praised by the town. However, it starts out far from his dreams. Instead, his regiment is only told to stay where they are, drilling and training over and over again and abstaining from any combat. Finally, his wish is granted as his regiment moves out, but not in the way they expected. The “moving” simply consisted of them stopping in one area, settling down, then being ordered to move again, repeating

Henry felt unhappy that the tale was false and now was more concerned about himself and it leads him to be depressed because he had done nothing for the last few months when waiting to go to war. He comes to the point that he feels like he cannot do anything at all, and can't be the hero he wants to be. He also comes to the point that he finds out that math and science cannot help him in everything, such as determining if he is a coward or not. Having noticed that he cannot determine on math and science to help him find out if he is a coward or not, he decides to go find an opportunity to help him prove if he is a coward or not. Trying to find an opportunity, he tried to measure himself to the other soldiers of his camp and tried to understand what the other soldiers was thinking about. He explains that he also afraid to show the other soldiers his concern about the war. He then thinks about two theories about his own camp as a whole. His first theory is that he believes that all the soldiers in his camps are heroes. However, at some times, he ignored the positive theories he had about them and saw them instead as a wandered someone who is afraid to do something. His emotions about them made him feel strange, especially about the people who talk about the excitement of the battle that is going to occur right in front of their

After the war, Henry remained cold to everything around him. “He sat in front of it, watching it, and that was the only time he was completely still. But it was the kind of stillness that you see in a rabbit when it freezes and before it will bolt. He was not easy. He sat in his chair gripping the armrests with all his might.” By comparing Henry to a rabbit frozen in fear, it really shows how immense his anguish is. “I looked over, and he’d bitten through his lip… So we went and sat down. There was still blood going down Henry’s chin, but he didn’t notice it and no one said anything even though every time he took a bite of his bread his blood fell onto it until he was eating his own blood mixed in with the food.” This quote uniquely shows how closed off he is emotionally. He has experienced so much pain from the war that he ignores his own suffering. It is clear that Henry had some extent of PTSD from the war. He was drowning in pain so much that he ignored his own purpose and value, so much so that he ended up taking his

The book The red badge of courage told an Adventure of a solider during Civil war of Eighteen-year-old Private Henry Fleming, He was volunteered to join the war, but when he saw the real war fighting and knew he was going to the battlefield next day, he got scared and ran away. After he run away, he is very ashamed of his reaction. He run into the woods, find a corpse, he freaked out and start running. He run to a wounded team was ready to retreat. And one of his comrade was in it and asked him where he wounded, while he was hurt pretty bad and died of excessive bleeding. Henry felt very helpless and angry, he run away from this troops,

Henry did not truly realize what he was getting into until he had some time to think about it. During the time that the regiment was in camp Henry had plenty of time to think about what he was doing and why he was doing it, and during this time of isolated thinking the fear of war consumed him to a point that he wished that he would get killed in the first battle. The way he viewed the war took a dramatic change; he no longer thought of honor and glory but rather the fear of the battlefield and how he would fair in it. These thoughts first come to him when rumors spread about a fight the next day: “He recalled his visions of broken-bladed glory, but in the shadow of the impending tumult he suspected

He started to realize that he could die right here right now. Henry started to feel a lot of fear. The reality kicked in and his whole view on the battle changed. He started firing his gun blindly and never looked at the enemies. He started to witness some of his fellow comrades getting shot and wounded. He thought to himself that I don’t want that to be me. He also noticed that a couple of his fellow comrades had dropped their weapons and fled. That’s where Henry panicked and fled along with them, because of the

In the beginning of the novel Henry is worried, particularly worried about his future and what it holds. His fear grows the longer his troop waits to be called to war. Henry has multiple internal conflicts about whether he should fight, even if it means death, or just run. Henry then recalls what his mother told him before he left about death.”If so be a time comes when yeh have to be kilt or do a mean thing, why, Henry, don’t think of anything ‘cept what’s right,” (Crane 7 ). In other words, Henry’s mother told him to do what is right, no matter what the consequences may be. Henry does the exact opposite, as soon as they enter the battlefield Henry runs, afraid of what it entails. He is filled with shame for running away and feels as he is a coward. Henry also questions if his regiment will notice and think he

In the novel, The Red Badge of Courage, Stephan Crane develops the theme “that maturity is reached by experience” through the character of Henry Fleming. Throughout the novel, we are witnesses to Henry’s growth from a naïve, foolish, and fantasizing young boy to a man. In the first couple of chapters, Crane sets the stage, the mood, and introduces the main characters, where he intentionally begins to unravel the theme that maturity is reached by experiences. At the beginning of the novel, Henry whole heartily believed that he was “made to shine in war.” Henry a naïve young boy, “burned” to enlist with “excitement and expectancy” that he would make a difference, be a hero and carry “the badge of courage” and honor.

Henry was full with self-delight thinking he had survived the evil of war, and proved himself bold. Without the soldiers recognising, the barracks had transformed itself into a comfort zone for the victorious where soldiers congratulated one another without the loss of their pride, and momentary valour. However, war is not so forgiving and ephemeral. Soon enough the camp was echoing under the warning of another attack. Just like a breeze, the ecstasy of self-approval had passed and turned into that “must-survive” gear the soldiers knew all too well.

Henry retreated during the second attack but eventually came back. Henry was immature and he felt wronged because most men in the regiment deserted him and left him to fight without much help. He fled because of annihilation. Another example of how immature Henry is, is that seeing a squirrel run made him feel better because it helped him rationalize his own flight of danger. As Henry becomes more mature, he promises Jim that he will not let him die in the road. His actions show maturity because at this point, Jim’s life is more important that his own. After seeing all the dead soldiers Henry begins to realize that this is a part of a war. He wishes he were dead because he was a coward and had run from battle. He wants to be a war hero but does not believe he can be because he had run from the war earlier.

During the very first battle of the entire war, Henry runs away from the battle. Running

During this battle Henry is more aware of what’s going on and is thinking of a sane state of manner. Henry is now looking at what he thinks that the full gray army who’s winning the battle is coming for him. So Henry runs. He thinks the 304 th Regiment will lose this battle and he thinks of his self preservation and decides to run. Whilst sprinting, he thinks the enemy army is following and is shooting so he keeps running. “As he ran on he mingled with others. He dimly saw men on his right and on his left, and he heard the footsteps behind him. He thought that all the regiment was fleeing, pursued by these ominous crashes.”(40). This is all rational because of the natural law and the laws of his life nag for him to seek self-preservation. “He had fled, he told himself, because of annihilation approached. He had done a good part in saving himself, who was a little piece of the army”

Henry thought that he was the only person/soldier who was afraid to fight but it turned out that Wilson, and probably a lot of the other soldiers, also had fear issues. The fact that he realized that he is not the only one experiencing fear made all the difference for him. He thought that he is a failure and cannot escape the fact that he is afraid of battle but the fact that he managed to re-establish his courage and the fact that society accepted him made all the difference for