The Red Badge Of Courage Character Analysis

The amount of blood shed, and the amount of soldiers that were fleeing was not a confidence booster for him. The soldier next to Henry dropped his riffle and ran before Henry did. This was ultimately the decision maker. After witnessing this, Henry didn't even need to think twice about fleeing. As Henry is running, he begins to rationalize the decision in which he made. Thinking that maybe he had made the right decision. He completely forgot all the lessons his regiment had instilled in him and his fellow comrades. He abandons all the honor and loyalty he has for his Union, and runs for

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.

Initially, Henry fears that he will run like a coward when faced with his first battle. He’s been in the army for a while now but hasn’t seen any action yet. Talking with the other men, he tries to get them to admit that they are scared as well. No one wants to say as much; they all seem perfect examples of fearless men, which leaves Henry feeling even worse about his own apprehension. Shortly before his first battle, he sees his first dead body, a gruesome corpse.

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

Henry Fleming (the youth) is the main character in the book Red Badge of Courage. Henry enlists in the Union Army during the US Civil War at a very young age and fights alongside other Union soldiers in his first battle. However when faced with an immediate second battle Henry decides to run and desert his unit. Henry is so tramatized by the dead and wounded soldiers that he sees during his first conflict that he cannot accept walking straight into his own death. So he runs away as fast as he can to save himself.

When the men regroup for the second attack, many of the Union soldiers around henry begin to run away. Henry gives into the pressure and joins in the retreat, he wasn’t prepared for the horror that war brings. As he’s running, he seems to observe everyone else around him. He sees his captain lying stretched on the ground, dead, the babbling man was grazed by a shot to the head, and another man grunted as he was struck in the stomach, along with many others that just started dropping to the ground. As Henry ran, he feared for his life that he was going to be struck in the back, but he continued running. The thought of self-preservation seemed more important to him than fighting with selflessness and bravery along with the other

He seemed to be feeling pretty good about his accomplishments in the first battle. However, he was not expecting the second battle so soon. When he saw his comrades starting to run, he lost sight of his mission. He started to feel scared all over again. Part 3 of chapter 6 says that "He ran like a blind man." It also states that Henry "Thought that all the regiment was fleeing." In both quotes, Henry was facing those fears and trying to show bravery as mentioned before as the them of the story. He honestly thought that he had done the right thing. But then he found out that his side had actually held off the

In the first battle, Henry fights along side with the other soldiers. He does this because he has the mind set that he was going to win the battle, which they did. When the second battle happens, Henry flees the battle with the other men. He flees with the other men because he knows that they wont win the battle, since they were not prepared for it. There were also other reasons why Henry fought in the first battle.

First, Henry did not flee during the first war out of patriotism for his country. He knew what he was leaving at home and knew he was going to be a part of a major part in history. Uniform on, gun in his hand he wants to come home just like all his brothers beside him and knows the only way out is to fight your best and hardest and win. He wanted women to lust after him and did not want to wreck that dream of coming home, so he pushed through despite how hard it was.

Some may argue that Henry is a coward because he ran away from the battle and Henry was scared. This viewpoint is incorrect because at the end of the book he took the flag and ran towards the front of the line. “Henry felt the subtle battle brotherhood more potent even than the cause for which they were fighting”(Crane, p.15). Henry felt anger when he fire a shot at the enemy. Henry pulled the flag out of the enemy line and puts his flag in the enemy line and wins the battle for his regiment. Henry wins the battle because of his bravery. Henry is a

Henry fought along side with the other soldiers in the first battle because they all put up a fight and didn't look scared or even a little frightened by the opposing soldiers. Henry ran during the second battle because he saw all the other solider who were around him starting to run. If they weren't scared from the first battle than they shouldn't have been scared of the second one, unless they knew something bad was going to happen or they were going to loose. He didn't want to run because he didn't was to be labeled a coward and become a pariah in his regiment.

During the second battle, Henry ran. He didn't run just to run, he ran in fear. Henry saw soldiers running through smoke in the field so he also decided to run. Just think, if you were sitting there watching soldiers run, wouldn't you follow them? If Henry decided not to flee, he could've been there all alone and open to danger. The enemies could've easily been right there with him.

“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

In the following battle, another test of his manhood, Henry flees from his regiment along with a few soldiers near him. War is defined as a “blood-swollen god”, this is far from the romantic view he held at the first stage of his development (Crane, 23). He is ashamed to admit his fear to himself and brands himself a criminal. He is forced to hide in the forest so that he is not noticed by his crew. He attempts to justify his reaction by testing a squirrel. He tests the squirrel by throwing a pine cone at it to see if it will run, and it does (Crane, 44). This proves to himself that it is simply instinctive to run when your life is threatened. He soon