What Does Henry Fleming Symbolize In The Red Badge Of Courage

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

Henry shows heroic traits fighting in the war. At the beginning of the story Henry runs to the woods, by the end of the book Henry fights and it turns out he actually likes fighting. This quote shows heroic traits by showing Henry actually fought. He like fighting and should not have ran the first time. Henry almost regrets running the first time.“He had fought like a pagan who defends his religion. Regarding it, he saw that it was fine, wild, and, in some ways, easy.” (Cane ) This quote proves that when Henry started fighting he liked and and he fought like a beast. This is not the only instance in which Henry shows heroic qualities.

As he is walking, a few soldiers that seems to be fleeing run into him. As Henry tries to stop them to ask what’s been happening, one of the soldiers swings at him with a rifle, opening a bloody gash on the top of his head. After a long while of waiting, a friendly soldier finds him and leads him back to camp, where a friend tends to his wound. After a few days of waiting, they come across another battle. This time Henry doesn’t flee, instead he thinks about all the people who have fought and died in the war, and decides to do the same: fight. Not only for the glory this time, but for the people he was

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

“The Red Badge of Courage” is a novel about the Civil War that has a main character named Henry

As previously discussed, Henry must make adjustments to his dreams as events pertinent to his life manipulate his goals. Henry never seemingly has the exact same life goal at any one point in the book, as he changes his mind from being a courageous soldier, to earning a red badge of courage, and so on. However, Henry never loses his ambition to continue and persevere through the hardships from his sacrifices. He subconsciously understands he will eventually achieve what he is looking for; he realizes it will take time and guidance from the realities of his life. Henry’s approach to life eventually allows him to achieve his dreams. “So it came to pass that as he trudged from the place of blood and wrath his soul changed. He came from hot plowshares to prospects of clover tranquilly, and it was as if hot plowshares were not. Scars faded as flowers” (Crane 130). This quote emphasizes the result of Henry’s life as he leaves his previous forfeits behind in order to finally obtain his goal inspiring happiness, which emphasizes the novel’s overall

Henry’s internal struggle is his view of courage. Henry believes courage is something a person earns and achieves. He never experienced war, but has dreamt and, “He had imagined peoples secure in the shadow of his eagle-eyed prowess. But awake he had regarded battles as crimson blotches on the pages of the past. He had put them as things of the bygone with his thought-images of heavy crowns and high castles.” (Crane 3) Henry wants to go to war to become a hero. He thinks that he has courage and could go to war and get all the glory. Henry runs from battle and has guilt, he comes up with excuses, he is a piece of the army and should save himself. When Henry comes back to the battlefield, he sees wounded soldiers and, “At times he regarded the

In the beginning of the book Henry is some what eager to be fighting in the gory scenes of battle. “He had, of course, dreamed of battles all his life – of vague and bloody conflicts that had thrilled him with their sweep and fire.” Henry was smitten with the idea of being engaged with killing other people like a wild animal, but when the time came it became known to him that his reactions to the scenes of war was not at all what he thought it would be. When one thinks about the idea of war one thinks highly about it and glorifies it, but in the actual chaos and confusion of war men become petrified, delusional, and lose their sanity. “He had rid himself of the red sickness of battle. The sultry nightmare was in the past. He had been an animal blistered and sweating in the heat and pain of war.” This quotes shows how Henry learned that his longing for war attitude was a incorrect attitude to have. Also that his war thirsty attitude got him into a scenario of war which made him lose his identity and rationality. To conclude, fighting against one another is not something someone should be gleeful about but

Most Americans didn’t really understand what was going on during battle, mostly during the time of the civil war because up to this point we we hadn’t had a war that had been this deadly and gruesome. One of the most prominent themes that you see throughout the book is courage; as the novel opens, Henry’s view of being courageous is traditional and romantic. He assumes that, he will return from the war either with or without his shield. Henry’s understanding of courage has more to do with the praise of his peers than any internal measure of his

As the battles continue, Henry dedicates himself to fighting. He starts working with his soldiers, and not only focusing on himself. He no longer wants approval from the other soldiers, because he knows what he does is right and has a significant amount of self affirmation. This shows his maturation and

When Henry first enters the camp, he sees the other soldiers as being better then him because they have more experience with the army. The author reveals, "He told himself that he was not formed for a solider"(Cranes 2). Henry ultimately is comparing himself to the other soldiers, because he does not feel that he is capable of being one of them. This causes his confidence to be low, resulting in him leaving the second battle. Moreover, Henry's confidence is low when he is noted as being an outcast amongst the group. The author states,"He was a metal outcast"(Cranes 2). Not only was Henry an outcast, but he also didn't associate with the other members in the group. Henry always worried about what the other soldiers thought of him, continuing to lower his confidence. This also causes him to avoid the second battle. To continue on, Henry's confidence is low when he finds him self not being able to connect with any of the soldiers. Henry is a new member and relies on others to boost his confidence because he can't seem to do it for himself. The author explains, "His failure to discover any mite of resemblance in their view points made him more miserable then before"(Cranes 2). Henry at this point has become miserable because his confidence is so low that it plays a factor in every event that has occurred so far. Henry's confidence has withdrawn him from the second battle but so has

“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 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 57). " This quote further reinforces the point that Henry is able to understand that he is part of something much larger than himself. Some people may think from reading the beginning of the book that Henry is a Coward, however in the later portions of the book, he admits the

Initially, Henry had enlisted because he wanted to be viewed as a hero and to appear fearless. Crane exemplifies this through his quote "He arose and began to pace to and fro excitedly. The thrill of his enthusiasm made him walk with an elastic step. He was sprightly, vigorous, fiery in his belief in success. He looked into the future with clear, proud eye, and he swore with the air of an old soldier."

Henry shows courage for just being a soldier because that is a very hard thing to be. It takes courage just to put on that uniform and go to battle. Although Henry struggles with courage throughout the novel he always wants to have the other soldiers backs. He struggles by running away from the War, when it gets tough. He also struggles because he leaves men behind on the battle field.