Title: The Red Badge of Courage
Author: Stephen Crane
Genre: Historical Fiction
Author and Background: Stephen Crane was born on November 1st, 1871. He wrote several books such as Maggie and Georges Mother, but The Red Badge of Courage was by far his best work and biggest seller. In 1900 he became ill and was nearly broke so he couldn’t afford his multiple health treatments. On June 5th, 1900 he died and left his belongings to Cora Taylor, a close friend. The Red Badge of Courage takes place during the civil war and is heavily realistic, even though; Crane had never actually been in a war.
Plot Summary: Story starts with the 304th regiment being told that they are marching to what they think is a battle. Henry, the main
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“He had done a good part in saving himself, who was a little piece of the army.”
The quote occurs after Henry fled from battle. It shows that he believes running away was the right thing to do even if he left his friends to fight. Henry believes that saving himself was more important than standing and fighting with his regiment. “His self-pride was now entirely restored.”
The quote shows that Henry finally found his courage and finds happiness within himself. He had gone through a hard change from having no pride to gaining full self-pride.
Characters:
Henry Fleming:
• Protagonist
• Want to be war hero
• In his first battle he acts like a coward
• And in his last battle he ends as war hero
• Dynamic character
Wilson:
• Loud soldier who speaks his opinion
• Friends with Henry
• Grows to become an experienced soldier
Jim Conklin
• Henrys friends
• Get hurt during battle
• Runs of and dies when Henry regroups with him
• His death promotes change in Henry
Henry’s Mother
• Doesn’t want Henry to go to the war
• Is a hard working woman
• Tells Henry not to let the bad soldiers change him
The tattered soldier
• Wounded soldier that Henry meets
• Continually asks Henry about his wound which he doesn’t have
• Drives Henry to leave him to die
Vocabulary:
Serene: calm, peaceful, or tranquil Dingy: shabby, dismal
Viand: an article of food Tattered:
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
“He felt that in this crisis his laws of life were useless. Whatever he had learned of himself was here of no avail. He was an unknown quantity. He saw that he would again be obliged to experiment as he had in early youth. He must accumulate information of himself, and meanwhile he resolved to remain close upon his guard lest those qualities of which he knew nothing should everlastingly disgrace him.” (Crane, Chapter 1) From this quote the reader can tell that Henry is fearful about whether he has the courage to fight in a battle. Henry assumes that war is only for creating heroes and that they are granted prestige in society. When he recalled his mothers advice, he realizes that it isn’t about making a name for himself, but meeting his responsibility honestly even if he has to sacrifice his own life.
In this moment Henry is a hero because he puts his life on the line for his regiment. This quote shows heroic traits by showing Henry is brave enough when he goes and grabs the flag. Henry is now the permanent flag bearer for his side of the army. “For a time the youth was obliged to reflect in a puzzled and uncertain way. His mind was undergoing a subtle change. It took moments for it to cast off its battleful ways and resume its accustomed course of thought.” (Crane ) This quote ties to the overall topic by proving that Henry has courage. This is not the only instance Henry shows heroic
As Henry is trying to find ways to justify running from the battle, he happens to overhear a few men talking about the very same battle. His side had won, and Henry is faced with the harsh truth, Henry ran out of fear. Not because he though that the soldiers fighting alongside him would lose, but because he was afraid only for his own life. As he is thinking about all of this, Henry finally comes across other soldiers. As he inspects them more closely however, he notices that they are all badly wounded. Still trying to escape the battle, he joins
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
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
The story ‘’The Red Badge of Courage’’ written by Stephen Crane published in 1895 and second novel and one of his most famous works.The Red Badge of Courage is a historical fiction about a boy named Henry ,a teenager who enlists with the Union Army in the hopes of fulfilling his dreams of glory.later Henry went into war, and at the end the war finally end and it's back to peace.Although the character may not be real, but the events reflect to the time period, which is during the Civil War.
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.
In the second paragraph he addresses the situations that faces them as Americans. Henry questions the idea of people during this time and states “Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to win back our love?” He then states the only way to not lose this freedom that they worked so hard for is to fight “if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained, we must
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, the main character from, "The Red Badge of Courage" by Stephan Crane, showed many different emotions and reactions to battle. The essay will show how nature and human life are similar. In the same sense that the emotions that Henry portrayed fear and bravery in numerous occasions throughout the story; in the end his youthfulness got the best of him. In the first battle Henry stayed with his unit. However, in the second battle, he ran away from the battle. From these two extremely different reactions, it can be determined that Henry was going through internal battles as well as external battles.
In the first battle, Henry fights along side the other soldiers. At this time, Henry is feeling confidant in his fighting skills and counted on his fellow soldiers to do their job. The narrator says, "He became not a man but a member. He felt that something of which he was apart- 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 this quote, it talks about how he feels that he believes in his regiment. He isn't so selfish, he believes he is no longer an individual with regiments, they work as a whole person. In the second battle, it's different, he flees with the regiment.
Henry's is afraid of looking bad and he is worried that he is going to be a coward and run away from battle. Henry wants to be a “man" and be courageous. On the day of his first battle, the tension brought about by waiting for it to begin, gives Henry plenty of time to think and wishes he was back home on the farm with his mom. He begins to feel insecure as to how he will react in battle, “He recalled his visions of broken-bladed glory, but in the shadow of the impending tumult he suspected them to be impossible pictures”.
“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
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.