Red Badge Of Courage Essay

Improved Essays
The Red Badge of Courage The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane is the story of a young man named Henry Fleming who enlists with the Union Army in the hopes of becoming a war hero. Shortly after enlisting, the reality of his decision sets in. Instead of becoming a hero immediately, he finds himself waiting most of the time. When he finally has his first battle, he fires into the battle haze, never seeing his enemy. As the next battle approaches, Henry begins to run from the field. Even when Henry hears that his army is winning, he still runs in fear. Henry finally slows down and hears of a new battle beginning. He then returns to the same battle field he ran from earlier. On his way to the battle field he sees many wounded men returning from getting medical assistance. Henry meets one of these wounded soldiers who calls himself "a tattered soldier.” They begin to have a conversation and the tattered soldier asks Henry where he is wounded. Henry avoids the question by drifting into the crowd of …show more content…
When you first meet Henry, he is a young, eighteen year old boy who just enlisted into the military. At first he is very excited and is fighting but the reality of war quickly sinks in. It’s interesting to see how he reacts to this because death is a huge factor when it comes to fighting in a battle. One of the best parts in this story is seeing how he changes the emotions of guilt and fear into confidence and strength. At first when he leaves the “tattered soldier” out in the field he does not think anything about it but shortly after he realizes exactly what he did. This ignites a fire inside of him that can not be stopped. It was great to see him go from scared and running away from war to being considered one of the best soldiers in his regiment and becoming the color

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Comparing and Contrasting War Experiences Many soldiers experience things that they will never forget. There are several contrasts between the two war books. The Red Badge of Courage gave less information about the ending than A Soldier’s Heart. There are also several comparisons between the books. Soldiers go through overwhelming thoughts, and feelings during the war, as shown in these books.…

    • 375 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Summary Henry Fleming is a young person with sentimental ideas about the glories of war. He enrolls in the Union armed forces and rapidly finds sides of himself he never knew existed. Him joining the army was a result of his mother telling him that he should never run from battle. “‘I don’t know what else to tell you, Henry, except that you must never avoid your duty, child. If a time comes when you have to be killed or do a bad thing, Henry, don’t think of anything except what’s right.’”…

    • 1070 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the poem Red Badge of Courage (Crane), the main point of view belongs to “the Youth” which a young man called Henry Fleming. He is not the one narrating the story but is the character used to experience the story. It tells of how the men go through a some obstacles and in the end they end up dead or with an injury. “Red Badge” means that you did something courageous, and getting one is the wish of many of the young soldiers. However, Henry is one that does not end up with a wound with the meaning he wants it to be,…

    • 611 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Frederic Henry had major changes throughout the novel. His attitude towards the war, Catherine, and friends had all changed significantly. One could argue that he didn’t pay much mind towards the war he involved himself in at first, but once he did, he became less enthusiastic about it as he became more aware. Eventually, he started to care more about a woman with whom he became increasingly interested in. His feelings towards the war and his feelings towards Catharine had a negative correlation.…

    • 1068 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the story on page 72 Henry said " "He now thought that he wished he was dead. He believed that he envied those men whose bodies lay strewn over the grass of the fields and on the fallen leaves of the forest" this shows that Henry is a coward because he doesn't want to live anymore because before he just ran from the battle instead of fighting and now that he had ran into all these wounded and dead soldiers he feels like it is his fault and he doesn't want to be seen again. It's all a point of war Henry should have stayed and helped fight instead of running away from the battle he could have at least tried to help fight and maybe not as much people would have been hurt or…

    • 697 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Henry Fleming was a youth that had wanted to enlist. Some of his personality traits are one that needs courage. He lacked courage that was needed for him during the war. This would come to him during the time of him facing the battles. Henry is an idealistic and completely self-absorbed teenager.…

    • 1398 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Great way to fight a war - be prepared to defend yourself for winning.” - Chris Kyle. Chris Kyle showed courage by defending his nation, and performing many heroic acts to help fellow soldiers, this is something Henry did not do. All soldiers have to show courage in the face of war, but Chris Kyle, and Henry from the Red Badge of Courage do it in completely different ways. Chris Kyle had courage by defending his country and performing many courageous acts to help other soldiers, all while keeping cool in his and thinking of others.…

    • 484 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He is a young boy who dreams about the glory and respect that comes from fighting battles. He is put into battled as an inexperienced soldier who knows little of what warfare really is. When it comes time for his regiment to fight he becomes overwhelmed and runs away. His cowardly actions and personality are a defining feature of Henry. He is a round and complex character, who progresses and becomes more brave towards the end of the story.…

    • 1408 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A Story About War Stephen Crane 's The Red Badge of Courage presents a unique view of the Civil War through the point of view of a soldier, Henry Fleming. By using this point of view, readers see the realities of war from someone experiencing them rather than the typical unfeeling articles by those who were never on the front lines. One strategy that Crane uses to create this vivid image of war is the use of figurative language, specifically similes and metaphors. Let 's explore these literary terms and their use in this novel. Definition of Metaphor and Simile Metaphors and similes are two examples of figurative language used by many writers to add visual appeal and help readers make connections with the characters and events of the story.…

    • 787 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The scratching pain of the contact made him draw a long breath through his clinched teeth” (70). After taking this blow and lying about how he receives it, Henry has to live with the guilt of lying about how he got his mark of courage. The mark ironically becomes a mark of guilt and cowardice, instead of one with courage. Through irony, Crane constantly restates the point that the expectations of society have no real value on the battlefield, only the abilities of…

    • 1699 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Henry early in the novel is obsessed with becoming a hero, but he concerned with how he will act in the face of a battle. When he leaves his home he goes as far to say that he was is disappointed when his mother like in the Spartan saying did not say come back with your shield or on it. He feels an emotional struggle of what…

    • 813 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    There are several contrasts in this story, here they are. Henry (Red Badge of Courage) is excited whenever he signed up for the army, he is then turned into a coward whenever the war actually starts. Charlie (Soldier’s Heart) is extremely excited about going into war, he signed up to do his…

    • 366 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    From my perspective, this symbolizes that death and life are not far apart. This idea that life and death are close, fits perfectly into the war setting. In a split second a soldier could be fighting and then fall into the hands of death. Henry could have thought that he would one day become this soldier, which could have instilled within him even more worry and fear. This complicated fear of death, with the worry of losing to the enemy, most likely lead Henry to run away from the battlefield.…

    • 1010 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Theme Of Heroism In A Farewell To Arms

    • 995 Words
    • 4 Pages
    • 1 Works Cited

    Henry’s path to “greatness” was a long and rough one, and although he wasn’t a true hero until the end of the book, he did exhibit some heroic qualities earlier in the novel. For example, when Henry was injured and bedridden, he took a chance and elected to have his operation performed immediately. Any other soldier would have been thrilled if he had the chance to stay in bed for six months far away from the war, but Henry wouldn’t have it. This showed a certain amount of bravery and integrity as most soldiers wouldn’t have made any effort to come back at all. “I am very tired of this war.…

    • 995 Words
    • 4 Pages
    • 1 Works Cited
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Foreseeably, war has always brought along confusion, destruction, desolation, and ultimately death. For the soldiers fighting in the battlefield, like the Henry and his companions, war proved to be harsh, tiring, confusing, desolating, and destructive. Many soldiers “had the gray seal of death already upon [their faces].” Moreover, other soldiers were “full of anger at their wounds, and ready to turn upon anything as an obscure cause (Chapter 8, page 57).” Through his writing, Crane demonstrates that war veterans are scarred both physically and psychologically.…

    • 872 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays