The Struggle In Henry's View Of Courage

Henry fled from the second battle because he did not fully understand the responsibility of being at war. He was just a boy trying to do what’s right. Angst and inner conflict welled within his conscience from participating in the first battle, but the lieutenant of his regiment filled his and his comrades’ spirit full of false security and bravery, making the first battle easier to bear.

Henry fights in his first battle: Henry began to have second thoughts about fighting in the war as his battalion got closer to their first battle. “ He thought that he must break from the ranks and harangue his comrades.” 1.

First, Henry might have been scared. He saw what happened in the first battle and it affected him in a way it didn't the others. This was the first time he fought in a war or battle with other men. He made friends with some of the soldiers in his regiment. If he stuck

Initially, Henry fears that he will run like a coward when faced with his first battle. He’s been in the army for a while now but hasn’t seen any action yet. Talking with the other men, he tries to get them to admit that they are scared as well. No one wants to say as much; they all seem perfect examples of fearless men, which leaves Henry feeling even worse about his own apprehension. Shortly before his first battle, he sees his first dead body, a gruesome corpse.

Henry sacrificed his romantic ideas of war to become a good soldier. When Henry enlists, he imagines glorious battles and being a war hero. “His busy mind had drawn for him large pictures extravagant in color, lurid with breathless deeds.” (p. 4) However, in his first battle, war isn't the noble act he envisioned. He watches numerous people he knows die horrible deaths and runs away out of fear. “On his face was the horror of those things which he imagined...He ran like a blind man.”(p. 46) The scenes that he witnesses are so horrific, that it leads to him being unable to focus on anything, even running from those sites. After running, Henry realizes that he isn't going to be a war hero. It is this realization that allows Henry to become a good soldier. In his next battle, Henry forgets about himself and fights as a part of a group. “He suddenly lost concern for himself...He was welded into a common personality that was dominated by a single desire.”(p. 38) He becomes such a good soldier that his commander tells him “‘...if I had ten thousand wild cats like you I could tear the stomach outa this war in less’n a week!’”(p. 111). Sacrificing the idea that he is going to be a war hero is what allows Henry to become

In the Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane, Henry has a conflict of individual vs. self as he struggles to mature at first when confronted with the realities of war. We see Henry be mesmerized by the glories of being a soldier but he does not truly understand what it means to be a soldier fighting in a conflict such as the Civil War. He matures and develops throughout his exposure to warfare and understands what it means to be a warrior. This is the central point in understanding why he fights with the other soldiers the first battle, yet he flees when the second battle ensues.

Henry wants to be the hero but he doesn’t think the war is really coming.He thinks that join the army has proved his bravery already,sometimes the people makes him think he is a hero now.He had, of course, dreamed of battles all his life--of vague and bloody conflicts that had thrilled him with their sweep and fire. In visions he had seen himself in many struggles. He had imagined peoples secure in the shadow of his eagle-eyed prowess,…but it, he thought, had been long gone over the horizon and had disappeared forever(chapter

At this part of the text, Henry is back with his regiment after running away, his self-confidence and self-important ness had returned. He states that he then felt that his criticism towards nature was absurd and that he had no long held nature in contempt. By Henry thinking this it shows that he believes that nature has shielded him or helped him to hide in the protection of dark and that nature agrees with what he has done and was willing to help him. Also, Henry believes that nature punishes those who run from battle by exposing them in the light of day, it is clearly seen from this that Henry feels that he is greater than the other people who run away and that he is more important because nature favors him over others. The last example of personification is, “Trees, confronting him, stretched out their arms and forbade him to pass.

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

Henry is now a well renounced fighter in his regiment and even referred to “as a war devil”(730). The only reason Henry is known as such an amazing fighter is because of what he goes through. Henry loses a multitude of his companions in war and learns the importance of helping others through his friend, Wilson. Wilson also teaches him that he is never fighting alone and without a cause; therefore these reasons give Henry a new found purpose that enhances his

Crane defines courage as "a temporary but sublime absence of selflessness," I think Henry experienced a temporary but not sublime absence of consciousness. In battle I think he was acting more like a machine than himself. "Henry ran like a madman to reach the woods before a bullet could discover him...In his haste his eyes almost closed, and the scene was a wild blur...pulsating saliva stood at the corners of his mouth."(Crane Ch. 20) He was acting out of fear, thus he wasn't truly himself in his actions. The one main reason Henry fled in the beginning is because he feared death. When you act out of fear you become more mechanical in your actions. A hero doesn't flee from battle and try to rationalize their actions by lying to

Despite the fact that Henry wanted to go to war, and enlisted by choice, Henry makes this egotistical observation, “He was in a moving box. As he perceived this fact it occurred to him that he had never wished to come to war. He had not enlisted of his free will. He had been dragged by the merciless government. And now they were taking him out to be slaughtered.” Later, Henry, after fleeing from the perilous battle, stated from afar that if the army he fought for lost, it would be beneficial for him. Self-absorbed Henry also perceived that he had been ill-used and was trodden beneath the feet of an iron injustice. This observation was the result of Henry seeing some of his fellow soldiers fleeing, so he did the same. Consequently, Henry only saw how things affected him, causing him to be

First, one should focus on the language and Henry's ethos. The soldiers are burdened with the thought of a

In the first battle it seemed like Henry was more excited and his adrenaline was running. He wanted to observe what battle was and show strength to his fellow soldiers. Henry gained confidence as his regiment drove back the enemy. His excitement in the moment gets him more involved with moving horses, flags and wounded men. “He suddenly lost concern for himself, and forgot to look at a menacing fate. He became not a man but a member. He felt that something of which he was a part - a regiment, an army, a cause, or a country - was in crisis.” Henry was beginning to think like a leader.

Courage is a necessity to overcome fears and achieve a desired goal. Fear is something that exists in all of us. There is no hero or any particular courageous figure that is without fear. Being fearless is not required to be courageous, one simply has to look past or overcome their fears to possess this great quality. When overcoming fears and going against the norm, there are always risks involved. There are different types of risks that come about. Someone could risk life or limb, while others risk their reputation. Either risk is serious enough that a person must have courage to endure that particular risk. Courage can occur anytime, anywhere, and often in our everyday lives. Everyone will experience courage no matter how young,