The Red Badge Of Courage Character Analysis

In The Red Badge of Courage: An Episode of the American Civil War (1985) by Stephen Crane, Henry Fleming, the main character of the novella, is first introduced as a youth, a young man, in the civil war. Henry is a white young boy enlisted into the army, like many of his peers, to fight for the Union. The reader reads through Henry in a third person limited point of view. Henry does not say why the war is happening or why he fights for the side he is on, instead he focuses on the battles of war. He goes into the war with a naive mindset because he has yet to see the horrors of war. The narrator says, “He had, of course, dreamed of battles all his life” (2). Henry sees the glory of war from the tales he had heard, which causes him to a having a burning to enlist. Henry Fleming is a young, naive soldier who worries about the reputation war will give him. When Henry first enlists, he is hopeful and wants glory. He wants to be a hero; more importantly he wants others to see him as a hero. The narrator says, “His busy mind had drawn for him large pictures extravagant in color, lurid with breathless deeds” (2). Henry has a very romantic view of war in the beginning when he wants to enlist, but soon wants to take that notion down. She knows he has …show more content…
The narrator says, “He became not a man but a member” (16). He soon felt had become a part of cause, leading him to think he could never be cowardice and run. The narrator says, “He felt that he was a fine fellow” (18). Henry is proud of his ability to stay and fight and be courageous as he hoped he would be. This would not last long; however, because when the enemy fires back soon after, Henry is discouraged. As he saw others flee the battle, he ran too. He thought he was in the right to do this. The narrator says, “Too, he felt pity for the guns” (20). He thought he was the smart one to run, even though it is a cowardice