How Is Henry Shown In The Red Badge Of Courage

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.

      In The Red Badge of Courage, Stephen Crane explores the theme of courage and heroism in depth. He develops these themes through the main character, Henry Fleming. Henry is a naïve young man faced with the harsh realities of war, in this book, some argue that Henry is transformed into a heroic "quiet manhood" while others see Henry as the same young man who ran from battle in the beginning of the book. I think Henry doesn't change, his heroic status acquired at the end of the book isn't truly him, instead he merely is motivated by fear of dying and being rejected by his fellow soldiers.

In the Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane the main character Henry (the youth) is portrayed as a prideful and a coward character. In the beginning of the book his mom constantly tries to persuade him not going to war. He was told by his mother many times that he was not ready physically and mentally to go out into battle. She warns him that he should not try to be the Rambo and you don't always have to be the hero. Although Henry disobeys his mom's tips in war such as, avoid being too prideful in any situation, refrain from being a coward, and sometimes you don't always have to be the hero; but seems to disobey her thoughts.

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane is a very interesting book about war. This book highlights what it is really like to be in a war and shows the colorful details and how it truly is something horrible. Where as normally when you hear war stories they are romanticized and have a hero of some sorts. That is exactly what the main character of Stephen Crane’s book believes. Henry is still a very young boy who believes that life is just like the stories. Today I am going to be talking about if Henry Fleming matured through the course of this book.

Throughout many novels, the use of colors can be important and can impact how the story is portrayed. In the novel The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane, colors play a role in representing emotions or portraying scenery. Three of these important colors include; purple, which symbolizes power; yellow, which symbolizes cowardice; and black, which symbolizes evilness and the unknown.

In the red badge of courage the author’s main ideas is transformation. The transformation of a young immature soldier to a confident strong man. The characters go through a psychological trauma with fears of battle, injury, or death. They have to try to overcome the fears and become confident, take the masculine insecurities and have composure and acceptance, take the isolation time and think. The soldiers in this book have to fully transform into their mind before they can transform in battle.

In the red badge of courage the author’s main ideas is transformation. The transformation of a young immature soldier to a confident strong man. The characters go through a psychological trauma with fears of battle, injury, or death. They have to try to overcome the fears and become confident, take the masculine insecurities and have composure and acceptance, take the isolation time and think. The soldiers in this book have to fully transform into their mind before they can transform in battle.

Fear, worry, anxiety, curiosity, distress, nervousness; all emotions of a young, naïve soldier entering war for the first time. To the reader, this is exactly what Henry Fleming represents. Because Crane never tells us what he looks like, just how old he is, or exactly where he comes from, and usually refers to him as "the youth" (Crane, 12) or "the young soldier" (Crane, 14), Henry could be any young many experiencing war for the first time. Throughout the novel The Red Badge of Courage, Henry Fleming goes through many psychological chances, each having a distinct impact on the novel. These changes can be put into three stages; before, during, and after the war. Due to the ambiguity surrounding the character of Henry Fleming, the

     Stephen Crane's purpose in writing The Red Badge of Courage was to dictate the pressures faced by the prototypical American soldier in the Civil War.  His intent was accomplished by making known the horrors and atrocities seen by Unionist Henry Fleming during the Battle of Chancellorsville, and the conflicts within himself.

“So it came to pass that as he trudged from the place of blood and wrath his soul changed” (Crane 139). The Red Badge of Courage is a great American classic, and this wonderful quote sums up the entire novel from start to finish. The novel is a novel about a solider in the civil war who deals with the difficulties of being in war. The novel follows and captures his journey using many literary elements. Crane’s use of style, plot, setting, and characters help enhance the story. The use of these literary elements helps enhance the novel and help readers understand the struggles of a solider during the civil war.

The Civil War was a pivotal event in American history. It drastically changed the American outlook on life and liberty, while also being the bloodiest wars in American History. The Civil War also inspired authors to write about the war. One of the most famous of these authors is Stephen Crane, whose The Red Badge of Courage depicted the war from the eyes of a common soldier, Henry. Crane uses Henry and the setting of the Battle of Chancellorsville to accurately depict the Civil War in all its brutality. In Red Badge of Courage, Stephen Crane shows a unique perspective on the true nature of war, both physically and mentally, by graphically depicting war both through the setting and through the point of view of Henry and his comrades, thusly making Crane a true historical writer.

In the story The Red Badge of Courage Stephen Crane shows the importance of having courage during this time period. First of all, in chapter 7 of The Red Badge of Courage the text states, “He had fled, he told himself, because annihilation approached.” This evidence shows that it was very difficult to stay in battle when he knew that he was facing death which was not courageous. Next, Crane shows that war is more deadly than it appears. According to chapter 1 of The Red Badge of Courage “He had, of course, dreamed of battles all his life - of vague and bloody conflicts that had thrilled him with their sweep and fire.” This evidence shows how the soldiers attitude about war changed because he thought it was about being famous until he was in battle, which shows that he was not strong. As you can see, it is important to have courage.

The Red Badge of Courage is a novel, published in 1895, centered on the unfiltered feelings and experiences of Henry, the protagonist, whose childhood was filled with romanticized ideas of war. The young farmer is sent into The Civil War idolizing the glory of being a warrior but only meets the harsh reality of battle. Although Stephen Crane, the author of this novel, was born on November 1, 1871, years after the Civil War, his novel shocked the majority of readers because of how realistic his novel illustrates war. Crane was obsessed with the idea of war and educated himself on it when he moved to New York City to achieve his dreams of a literary career. In New York he read many journals and met with

1) Cranes approach in his novel “The Red Badge of Courage” is quite different from any other readings about war at the time. Whereas the general ideas from those novels was that war is a thing of courage, and beauty, the grim reality is that it’s a brutal, terrifying scene. And Crane approached it from the perspective of a lone individual, diving into his mind as the war unfolded in front of him. This led to a literature work that few of the times had ever experienced.

	Crane began his writing career in poverty, hoping that it would inspire him to write. Along with his beliefs in Darwinism, he drew much if his influences from his religious beliefs (Colvert 12:108). Famous writers such as Hamlin Garland, William Howells, Rudyard Kipling, and Tolstoy also influenced him (12:101). The first of his stories was Maggie, which was very unpopular ("Stephen" n.p.). His second novel, The Red Badge of Courage, earned Crane international fame. The Red Badge of Courage showed Crane’s views of life as warfare in a book that is basically plotless. It is about a young soldier, Henry Fleming, and the emotions that he experiences during wartime ("Stephen" n.p.). Crane’s most famous work of poetry was Black Riders, which appears to have little or no outside influences (Quartermain 54:106). Black Riders was also an attempt by Crane to get rid of his thought that God was vengeful and wrathful (Colvert 12:101).