Henry's Transformation In The Red Badge Of Courage

Henry’s confidence does not last for a long time. The realities of the battle become a reality and cause his fear and doubt to reappear. Henry goes from being happy because he was able to fight the enemy in the first battle to being anxious at the beginning of a second

Terrified, he runs from the scene, following the other soldiers who also lacked these traits. Henry views his regiment as “the subtle battle brotherhood more potent even than the cause for which they were fighting. It was a mysterious fraternity born of the smoke and danger of death”, meaning that he only fights because he’s surrounded by fighters. Henry is not showing courage or bravery in battle, he is just blindly following the other soldiers.

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

"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 a crisis. He was welded into a common personality which was dominated by a single desire." (Crane ) The Red Badge of Courage is written by Stephen Crane. It takes place during the Civil War. Some readers think Henry is a Coward while other think he is a hero. Henry shows heroic traits when he ends up fighting, grabs the flag, and stays with the army.

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

As he is walking, a few soldiers that seems to be fleeing run into him. As Henry tries to stop them to ask what’s been happening, one of the soldiers swings at him with a rifle, opening a bloody gash on the top of his head. After a long while of waiting, a friendly soldier finds him and leads him back to camp, where a friend tends to his wound. After a few days of waiting, they come across another battle. This time Henry doesn’t flee, instead he thinks about all the people who have fought and died in the war, and decides to do the same: fight. Not only for the glory this time, but for the people he was

Moving closer to the battle, Henry, the rookie private with a lack of self-confidence and courage, starts thinking if he should run away from a battle or fight in the battle. With a lack of war experience, he feels insecure going to battle and does not know what to do. He starts to ask his fellow soldiers on their thoughts and opinions about running away from a battle as he felt cowardliness of doing so. He also asked one

When faced with adversities early into his first battle, he quickly reconsidered his views on war and courage. By running away from the face of battle, Henry “saw his vivid error, and he was afraid that it would stand before him all his life” (Cane 24.30).  This pushed him into believing that he would never be a man of courage of masculinity. This “error” of running away caused Henry to be angry at himself for mistakenly thinking the battle was over and abandoning his fellow soldiers. While away from the battle Henry discovers “that he had a scorching thirst” and “his body was calling for food” (Cane 11.21). From the struggle of war and the experience of Wilson, Henry learns to reflect upon his life and learn from his mistakes, rather than being angry at himself. This allowed Henry to be influenced by the culture around him, shaping him into acknowledging that courage was not depicted by a gunshot or a wound, but by the act of adhering to the line of duty and learning from your

Henry Fleming, also known as “The Youth” in the book, was a young soldier heading out for war with excitement and pride. Little does Henry know what awaits him in a war in which brothers fought against brothers and fathers against their sons. How the cruelty of war may take his innocent mind and transform it into something gruesome and horrid in which he may have never expected, yet mold him into a man who can say that he’s seen it all.

“The Youth,” which Henry is referred to as, dreamt of glory in battle and being a hero (Crane 2). That is the reason why Henry enlisted himself; even though he told his comrades he was forced to be in the army. His mother’s farewell speech is ironic because he thought that she would give him a tearful and long speech, but all she really said was to “Watch out, and be a good boy” (4). She does not want Henry to be a hero even though that is what he went to war for. She told Henry that she will be fine if he does not return home. Henry tries to pull off being a confident and good soldier, while in the reality he is very nervous about what will happen in battle. Throughout the novel, he questions his courage and if he would run from battle. At an early battle, Henry continuously fires at the enemy line and feels like he is a courageous soldier. However, soon after this battle, another one erupts and Henry runs from it. This is

Nonetheless, once on the battlefield, Henry was struck with the cruel and cold reality of the war. Consequently, it was through his experiences that he was able to face reality while at the same time had a springboard to grow and eventually reached maturity.

Romanticizing the war, and the thought of going off to battle, Henry goes against his mother’s wishes and joins the Army. Often referred to as the “youth or young solider’,”

Within the book, the soldiers would rather die with honor, then return back home with the honor and courage they gained from the war experience. Henry Flemming, the main character, focuses on being an advanced soldier than the others and has trouble with his true identity. Henry is a selfish soldier, motivated in an uncanny way. Instead of wanting to fight for his country, and unselfish heroism, he becomes motivated by fear and cowardice and most importantly his egotism. For soldiers, they go into war and battle to fight selflessly for their home, their country.

He described that he couldn’t escape even if he wanted to. Through this analogy, the reader can see that Henry is reducing the soldiers to unthinking, unfeeling machines, performing their duty without taking into account the threat of injury or death. As he looks around at the faces of the rest of the soldiers in his regiment, he notices their focused commitment to the firing of their rifles. He wonders if he is the only one faced with questions of morality. While the regiment began to advance, Henry was shocked to receive a packet of letters from Wilson, who feared he would die in battle. After the battle, he is glad that he made it through the first day. He begins to lose the romantic vision of war by seeing the realities, but he starts lying to himself about who is really is.

In the first battle Henry's fear gets the best of him. As he is sitting and waiting for the first battle to start he is daydreaming, and he is startled when he hears the call that the enemy is coming. "He stood trying to rally his faltering intellect so that he might recollect the moment when he had loaded, but he could not." Henry fears that his gun isn't loaded and that he's not ready. He is frantic as he see's the enemy charging. "Before he was ready to begin, before he had announced to himself that he was about to fight-he threw the obedient, well-balanced rifle into position and fired a first wild shot." Henry recklessly fires the first shot without thinking, without waiting for a command because he is flustered and frantic worried that he isn't ready. This worked in his favor because when he fired that shot he was suddenly freed from his fear and became a part of something larger than himself. He was a member of something bigger and stronger, a machine, and he had the courage to fight. "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 a crisis. He was welded into a common personality which was dominated by a single desire." In the second battle Henry wasn't prepared and neither were his comrades, he found himself surrounded by