In The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane, Henry Fleming is the main character in the novel. Henry is a young boy who enlisted in the Union army to fight in war. Before going into war his fears gets to him and he starts thinking if he is going to be courageous and fight or if he is going to run. Henry fights along with the other soldiers in the first battle and had a short victory. Short because then the enemy reassembled in which Henry and the other soldiers were caught off guard. A second battle had commenced even though he fought in the first one he fled from the scene when the second battle began. Having fought and won, why would Henry run from the second battle? Henry stays to fight during the first battle but leaves the second battle …show more content…
He felt that the regiment was losing or weakening and that they couldn’t handle it. He looked around to see how the others were feeling, so he didn’t think he was the only one. He runs once he sees others soldiers start to run away. “We ain’t never goin’ to stand this second banging. I didn’t come here to fight the hull damn’rebel army.” “The youth stared. Surely, he thought this impossible thing was not able to happen. He waited as if he expected the enemy to suddenly stop, apologize, and retire bowing. It was all a mistake. But the firing began somewhere on the regiment line and ripped a long in both directions.” “The words that comrades had uttered previous to the firing began to recur to him.” He saw other soldiers talk negatively and that affected what he was going to do. “He caught changing views of the ground covered with men who were all running like pursued imps and yelling”. “There was a revelation. He too threw down his gun and fled. There was no shame in his face”. “He ran like a rabbit.” “They seemed to be patting them on the back and encouraging them with words”. The other soldiers were happy about not staying and about running. In his head he made running away and being a coward okay because in his point of view it was self-preservation. If he would have died where would the army be? He didn’t want to die for nothing and pretends he was acting smart by running. He did it out of fear for survival and to save the army. His conscience was making up for the wrongs he did by covering it up with other things. It would have been different if the other soldiers didn’t put things in his head. He is young and young people usually follow others so to him it was okay to follow the soldiers that were running. Henry runs from the second battle because of the other soldiers peer pressure and influencing him to
But in the second battle Henry flees from his comrades while they held the line as the rebels tried to push them out. The regiment ended up being the victors of the second battle too. But Henry was worried about what the other soldiers would say to him since he ran away from the battle. I believe Henry was always afraid of battle even before it started and when the enemy came sprinting towards him he was shocked and started to flee.
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.
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
Henry fights along the other soldiers in the first battle but flees in the second because he might be scared. Henry saw and fought in the first battle but didn't flee because he didn't see what he did the first time around. It was his first time fighting in a war or battle with other people. He remembered what his mother said before he left and wanted to see her again. He might have thought that if he didn't flee he wouldn't have a wife or kids or a family later on in life.
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.
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
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
After the first battle in "The Red Badge of Courage", we see how many of the soldiers feel courageous and confident in their fighting abilities. However, this spirit doesn't last long, as the following battle in chapter 6 shakes up their regiment, eventually separating most of the soldiers in the confusion. In the above excerpt, we see how Henry is scared and confused in the face of this persistent enemy. It is hard for him to make out the battle in front of him, which causes further panic and confusion among the regiment. After all, it is scary enough to fight an enemy seen – even scarier to fight an enemy that is invisible. Adding to the confusion of this battle, many of the men in Henry's regiment, including Henry, let their fear overwhelm them, and flee from the battleground.
"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 a crisis. He was welded into a common personality which was dominated by a single desire." (Crane ) The Red Badge of Courage is written by Stephen Crane. It takes place during the Civil War. Some readers think Henry is a Coward while other think he is a hero. Henry shows heroic traits when he ends up fighting, grabs the flag, and stays with the army.
“Within him, as he hurled himself forward, was born a love, a despairing fondness for this flag which was near him.” (Crane 108). In the story, The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane, Henry Fleming is a 16 year old soldier who is fighting for the Union during the civil war at the Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia. Many readers believe that Henry is a hero, but some also believe he is cowardly throughout the book. Henry proves he is that he is heroic throughout the last few chapters of the book because he picks up the fallen flag, encourages people to stay and fight, and he continues to fight even after the enemy is gone.
In The Red Badge of Courage, Henry shows immaturity by enlisting in the army and being naïve about the war. Henry explains that since he was young, he dreamed about the war of the bloody battles that the soldiers fought in. He thinks fighting in a war will make him a hero and achieve glory. He enlisted in the army, although his mother opposed the decision. However, when he makes it to the camp, he had to wait many weeks in the camps until he was called up to battle, and he started to doubt his place in the army.
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 novel, The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane, Henry Fleming possesses noticeable character traits. First, Henry Fleming exhibits that he is irritable. In addition to being irritable, Henry Fleming expresses selfishness. Finally, Henry Fleming displays cowardliness turned to courage. Throughout the novel, Henry Fleming proves himself to be irritable, selfish, and cowardly turned into courage.
“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