Fred Collins A Mystery Of Heroism

Company Aytch, a memoir written by Sam Watkins, tells the personal tale of a lowly private fighting four long years in the American Civil War. Watkins was from Columbia, Tennessee, and was a part of Company H, 1st Tennessee Infantry. He recounts his military career in chronological order, from before the Battle of Shiloh in 1862 to the day the Confederacy surrendered at Nashville in 1865. Watkins is a humble writer, often reminds the reader that he is not aiming to provide a comprehensive account of the entire war, but rather a collection of personal stories. Military history books often recount the lives of generals and of great strategies, but this book insists that history should not exclude the common men who filled the ranks of the military.

In the novel Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers, true heroism is shown throughout many events in the story. One of the many characters in the book, Lt. Carroll, was said to show heroism before the main character, Richie Perry, came to the war. Another example of heroism by Lt. Carroll is when he was trying to lead his squad to safety but ended up getting hit himself. The third way Myers showed heroism is when Monaco, one of the squad members, was captured by the enemy and Richie and Peewee, another one of the squad members, saved him.

Is it possible for a person to be selfless and selfish at the same time? Fred Collins, the main character from “A Mystery of Heroism” by Stephen Crane, is both selfish and selfless. Correspondence to Fred Collins the main character, Peyton Farquhar, from the book “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce shows that he is very selfish. Overall, Fred Collins and Peyton Farquhar were very selfish by only doing things for them and not for others.

Robert Cormier opens Heroes with a powerful self-description of the horrendous wounds that ex-war ‘hero’ Francis suffers. This scene is confronting as it graphically details his impaired bodily functions. Cormier elucidates Francis’ physical and emotional scars upon returning to Frenchtown. The use of short sentences enhances the direct, intimate narrative voice of Francis which allows readers to feel them listening to his thoughts. Cormier provides a detailed brutal description of the protagonist, which has a great immediate impact and arouses our sympathy.

Lawrence Michael – “Amazingly readable narrative. Mr. Martin puts the reader into the worn rags and shoeless feet of the private soldier of the continental line of the War for American Independence.”

The two books “Soldier’s Heart,” and “The Red Badge of Courage,” have their differences and similarities that take the reader on a wild, emotional journey. The major differences amongst the stories highlights the characters personalities, or traits, and assists in making each book stand apart from

Winston Smith is a hero. Despite his anticipated and inevitable failure at the end of 1984, he personifies humanity’s nature to resist subjugation and repression. Actions and intentions are the true measure of a hero and Winston Smith is not found lacking in either. His failure does not diminish his status as a hero. On the contrary, he is the precise representation of Orwell’s definition of heroism: an ordinary man doing whatever he can to change a system that is devoid of decency; in spite of the obvious futility of such an endeavor.

Often times war is depicted in a victorious, triumphant manner when in reality war is chaotic; full of destruction and death. In Stephen Crane’s “A Mystery of Heroism” and Ambrose Bierce’s “An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge,” we witness the harsh reality of the war and the common human reaction to the havoc. Fred Collins simply wants water, but the well is on the other side of the battlefield. Peyton Farquhar, a loyal civilian to the South, just wanted to help in the war but instead was hanged for his good-intentioned attempt to destroy the bridge to help the Confederates. Ambrose Bierce and Stephen Crane wrote “An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge” and “A Mystery of Heroism” to show the natural human condition in adverse situations.

In the story “Mystery of Heroism” by Stephen Crain, Fred Collins is a hero. Collins begins this story with intent fueled only by spite from his comrades jesting at him with comments such as “Well, if yeh wanta drink so bad, why don’t yeh go git it?” and Collins taking the bait with “Well, I will in a minnet, if yeh don’t shut up!” (Crain pg. 2). Given Collins actions thus far, he is nowhere near a hero. Evidently, his only intent behind pursuing the brave feat of crossing the battlefield simply to get water is to prove he will do it. But this is only the beginning of Collins’s journey. A little over halfway through the story, Collins intent begins to change as “The canteen filled with a maddening slowness” and “on the ground near him lay the old well bucket” which he “lowered swiftly into the well,” (Crain pg.

Written by Stephen Crane, The Red Badge of Courage is a novel filled with irony. This story is written in the point of view of the main character, Henry Fleming, and tells about his maturation through the war. Including the title, from the beginning to the end of the book there is irony present. The use of irony by Crane helps create a lot of discussion for critics. Henry’s internal debate is a main source of irony in this novel. Also, his fantasy of how he thought war was going to be and how it turned out is ironic.

War forces young soldiers to grow up quickly. In Stephen Crane’s Civil War novel, The Red Badge of Courage, Henry Fleming is no exception. He is faced with the hard reality of war and this forces him to readjust his romantic beliefs about war. Through the novel, the reader can trace the growth and development of Henry through these four stages: (1) romanticizing war and the heroic role each soldier plays, (2) facing the realities of war, (3) lying to himself to maintain his self-importance, and (4) realistic awareness of his abilities and place in life. Through Henry’s experiences in his path to self-discovery, he is strongly affected by events that help shape his ideology of war, death,

The Red Badge of Courage, written by Stephan Crane in 1895 gives a detailed, yet, fictional account of Henry Fleming, a farm boy who joins the Union Army in the American Civil War. Before Henry is battle-tested, he ponders his courage and questions whether he will be able to fight the urge to flee from battle. Henry does indeed end up deserting his comrades however he ultimately overcomes his guilt and becomes one of the best fighters in his regiment. In order to depict a realistic and relatable war scene, Crane includes Henry’s realistic thought-process and emotion in his struggles to maintain courage. The narrative simply revealed war in a manner that was divergent to all prior forms of literature in the 19th century. Previous novels predominately entailed the glorious and romantic aspects of war rather than the tedious, gritty, and gruesome details of close combat. Instead, Crane broke the barriers of literary norms in war-related literature; the novel depicted a pragmatic experience of combat from the eyes of an inexperienced and frightened youth. In the Red Badge of Courage, Stephan Crane primarily uses religious and gory imagery as well as symbolism to contrast the romantic conceptions of war versus the reality of experiencing battle.

“A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles. (Christopher Reeve)” In The Red Badge Of Courage, the author Stephen Crane, analyzes the terms “hero” and “being heroic” through the main character’s actions during WWI. Stephen Crane was intrigued with the art of war and battles and to write the novel as accurately as possible spoke to men from WWI. He wrote the novel with such detail and used so many vivid descriptions most literary critics thought he was a veteran when he had never set foot of the battle field.

Only by the concern and courage from his Captain did he survive, while unfortunately, the Captain did not. If he did not sacrifice his life for the wellbeing of his squad, then they would have all been dead. This had me thinking about all the time I spend with my grandpa. It becomes tedious when I would rather be out with my friends, but after reading this section of the book, I began to understand how precious my time with him is. Suddenly sacrificing my summer to take care my grandpa is not so much a sacrifice at all, but a blessing. My time with him is limited and it is truly an honor to be chosen to look after him.

Crane, Stephen. “An Episode of War.” Great Short Works of Stephen Crane. New York: Harper