Self-Discovery In Stephen Crane's The Red Badge Of Courage

Self-discovery isn’t the easiest thing to accomplish in life, especially for young people. The Red Badge of Courage, set during the Civil War, portrays the reality of how a young boy--Henry Fleming--would feel fighting alongside the war. Out of rash choice Henry decides to enlist himself in the army, it isn’t specified how old he is, but it’s quite evident he’s young. The novel does nothing more than set up how Henry’s perspective changes towards life and the meaning of being a man through his experiences in the war. In, The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane, we discern Henry Fleming’s transformation from a naive boy to a mature man.
Henry’s thoughts at the beginning of the novel are all, but mature. He insults his commanders, thinks quite poorly of his fellow soldiers and to put the cherry on top, is frightened of the enemy. In chapter two Henry feels that his soldiers are just putting up a front about being brave and that they’re just as afraid of what’s happening as he is, even if they are …show more content…
Henry is flabbergasted by Wilson’s change in character, he had thought of him as one who was boastful, now here he is being attentive towards his wounds and being considerate (77). Henry is finally realizing that maturity is shown through genuine compassion and desire to be better. Quite later on in the novel Henry’s courageousness takes a drastic turn, in chapter 19 the color sergeant had been shot and Henry not only took it upon himself to take the flag and keep on moving forward in the battle they were fighting at the time but also felt prideful for the country he served (101). Henry took the initiative to take the flag selflessly, he did it, not for himself, but for the pride and perception of beauty he has with his country, the United States. Henry no longer feels as frightened as before, at this point he has become what he perceives as a