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No Heros in The Red Badge of Courage and A Farewell to Arms Essay

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No Heros in The Red Badge of Courage and A Farewell to Arms

Many great literary novels have the protagonist, the main character

of the novel, being portrayed as the "hero". There are many different

deeds and actions that can characterize a person as a hero such as saving

someone from a burning house at the risk of one's own life. The main

distinguishing characteristic of a true hero is self-sacrifice, whether it

be scarifice of your own personal desires or ideals or sacrifice of

physical well being to help others. There are a few novels in which the

main character of the work does not exemplify the deeds and thought of a

true hero. Two such works include Stephen Cranes' The Red Badge of …show more content…

After the second

skirmish, the readers find out that he does indeed run from battle but

that's not what makes him a non-hero. It's the fact that he tries to

rationalize and justify his running. He says that his running is "... not

a fault, a shameful thing; it was an act obedient to a law." He also uses

nature to justify his running such as when he throws something at a

squirrel and it runs away. He's also egotistical when he says that his

running away was done with "dignity" as compared to the others who ran like

cowards. To make matters worse, after Henry is rejoined with his regiment,

he lies about getting separated from the regiment and with the aid of a

fradulent head wound, his story is not questioned by others. But Henry's

mind is always full of thoughts of how to save himself embarrassment that

he even stoops to thinking about blackmailing his friend Wilson with the

packet of letters that were given to him. "He now rejoiced in the

possession of a small weapon with which he could prostrate his comrade at

the first signs of a cross-examination."

Another instance in which Henry acts unheroically is in the

desertion of the tattered soldier. Henry could be juxtaposed to the

tattered soldier to show how a hero should act. Unlike Henry who is always

thinking about his self image, the tattered soldier, although he is shot

and hurt himself, asks about

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