The Red Badge Of Courage Research Paper

The Novel, The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane, is about a Union Regiment during the civil war that is stationed along a riverbank. Henry Flemming is a newcomer who is bothered about his bravery because there is a rumor the regiment is going to go to battle. The only reason Henry was drawn to enlist was because he wanted to become a war hero. The main conflict is internal. When Henry has to go into battle and risk his life, he realizes that there is no turning back, and he could not run if he tried. The climax occurs when he is enraged by another soldier, Jim Conklin, and takes out his anger on the confederates, impressing the lieutenant. Additionally, Wilson, his friend, and him hear another lieutenant say that the 304th regiment fights like “mule drivers.” The two friends set out to disprove his claim. For example, when the regiment’s color bearer dies, Henry assumes his duties. After continuing to face more adversity from the lieutenants, they work harder and harder to become the best in the regiment. The resolution occurs when Henry finally realizes joining the war is not about reputation or becoming a hero, it is about fighting for a cause that is worth fighting for. At the end of the novel, Flemming reflects on the war and on how he learned the meaning of true courage. (251 Words)

Now I don't mean that by turning older, but really showing that this experience in the war has made him open his eye's and see that war isn't all fun and games. When the first battle began, Henry notices that not only himself but the people in his regiment are in danger. He overcomes his fear by protecting his team. In the book, its states “ He suddenly lost concern for himself, and forgot to look at a menacing fate. 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 crisis. He was welded into a common personality which was dominated by a single desire. “ ( Crane 5.13 ) That shows maturity by not just worrying about yourself, but worrying about other people that you barley even

The Red Badge of Courage stood out to me from other war novels because it told the story of a youth and his hard and emotional journey to adulthood. Henry Fleming begins as an innocent young man, eager to experience the glory of war. Shortly after enlisting, he faces the truth about war and his own character. Henry is faced with the contradiction between his survival instinct and his desire to be a real soldier.

Before Henry joined the army he dreamed of being in battle it thrilled him he wanted to be a hero, but in the first chapter the narrator explains why. In chapter 1 he was deciding whether or not if he had courage to join the war and he decided to join the army because he believes war makes heros and he will gain honor and a place in history. This shows how his views of battle was before he joined the army he believed that he will be a hero if he joined the army.

“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

Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage portrays war through the youth Henry fleming’s conception. In the beginning of the novel, war is romanticized by Henry; he is enchanted by the idea that war produces heroes. However when Henry does finally fight in a battle, the romanticized idea of war is destroyed. Although Henry seems to grow up in some parts in the novel, there are parts that show he still is a child with superficial and shallow desires and ideas involving war. Henry shows his ignorance and naivness in some scenes, but then he shows his progression into adulthood and acquiring of courageousness in other scenes.

In the novel Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane, Union soldier Henry Fleming fights in his first battle along with the other soldiers, but flees during the second battle. The main reason Henry did not run from the first battle was because he was afraid of what would happen if he did run. The second battle, however, was much more brutal. Henry decided to protect himself and flee much like a great number of his fellow soldiers did.

That they seemed to have almost aged overnight; the way only intense experience and hardship can age someone. “He has become instinctively aware of a truth taught by intense experience, that man can and must cultivate a dullness...him that “retribution was a laggard and blind. ””(DillingHam) Henry is starting to realize war is not the glory you see in ancient rome and

However, he witnesses several men getting injured and seeing this contributes to his fear toward war. Henry’s emotional badge of courage is his cowardness which is seen when he explores the way wars are fought. He seems to be in a state of shock when watching how his friends of the regiment die ruthlessly in a battle. Henry, being able to escape from the battlefield, serves as an evidence that he was not ready for the lifestyle in a war. Soldiers dying out of pain, the extreme weather conditions, and the lack of supplies was horrifying for Henry. Henry’s red badge(s) of courage support the theme of overcoming his or her fears. Henry escapes the battlefield because he could not handle the terrors of the war, but the taunts of the society and the desire to get a red badge of courage compelled him to come back. Henry returns to war prepared to fight the enemy. It is an understanding that in order to defeat an individual’s fear, motivation and inspiration is required. Henry’s desire to get a red badge of courage inspires him to face his fears of war.

Stephen Crane's novel The Red Badge of Courage follows a young soldier named Henry Fleming. Henry a recruit with the 304th regiment fights on the battlefield and also has an internal conflict where he worries about his courage. He fears that once a predicament arises his first instinct will be to flee. Henry also desires a reputation amongst his fellow comrades. Henry fears his cowardness will take over and he will flee battle. Henry does not flee from the first battle but manages to run away during the second battle. He doesn’t flee from the first battle because he is unable to.

1. When writing The Red Badge of Courage, Stephen Crane uses a different approach from what is often seen in fiction books about war. Crane wrote the story of Henry Fleming in a way that compared Henry’s expectations to the reality of war. For example, Crane contrasts Henry’s expectations of battle with the reality of battle. Before his first battle, Henry believes that the battle will be filled with heroism and pride. He believes that being wounded is a sign of sacrifice and is admirable. However, when he actually sees injured men in battle, the reality of death and injury comes to him. Crane narrates, “The men dropped here and there like bundles. … Farther up the line a man, standing behind a tree, had had his knee joint splintered by a ball. Immediately he had dropped his rifle and gripped the tree with both arms. And there he remained, clinging desperately and crying for assistance …” (Chapter 5). This shows that Henry realizes the horror of war and learns that the red badge of courage is not something he wants.

*1. "Something new." "Been Never guessed before." "A very fresh note." The critics agreed there was something different going on here. Many books about war, some quite realistic, had already been written. Describe what was fresh in Crane 's approach to writing about war.

. . that perhaps in a battle he might run. He was forced to admit that as far as war was concerned he knew nothing of himself" (10). Eventually, Henry faces his ultimate enemy—himself. Henry wants to be a legendary hero like the ones he has read about, but at the same time, his fears nag at him, making him doubt his own self-confidence. He later questions his fellow soldiers in an attempt to gain some confirmation on his anxieties and wonders whether they will accept him later should he run from the battle. Such questions suggest the constant dilemma experienced by inexperienced, young adolescence, such as conformity, peer pressure, and acceptance. Crane communicates the initial stage of Henry's transformation when Henry expresses uncertainty of who he is. At last, Henry becomes increasingly aware of the laws of nature and that can not escape death. Henry fights well in the first battle against the rebels, but during the second clash, he loses his nerve and flees in terror thinking that he is about to be eaten by "a red and green monster", or the monster of death. To reorganize his thoughts, he walks deeper into the woods not to learn from nature, but to justify his running from danger by a squirrel running away from a thrown pinecone. He then comes across a dead man leaning beside a tree. Crane notes Henry's reaction to the corpse: "The youth gave a shriek as he confronted the thing. He was for moments turned to

One literary technique Crane has used in the novel is irony. In particular when Crane writes that “at times he (Henry) regarded the wounded soldiers in an envious way. He conceived persons with torn bodies to be peculiarly happy. He wished that he, too, had a wound, a red badge of courage” (Crane, 52). This is considered ironic, because all Henry wanted was to be seen as courageous, and the fact that his first real injury was caused by a union soldier, rather than his boldness, causes the whole idea behind Henry’s courage to seem ironic. In effect, Henry’s actions and thoughts at the beginning of the book, make it sound like he does not wish to be courageous for the right reasons. Henry craves to be recognized as a hero, but does not want to deal with all of the effects that could happen leading up to that.

The book The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane is about war and how Henry, a