Henry's Message In 'The Red Badge Of Courage'

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In the book The Red Badge of Courage, young Henry enters into battle. Henry enlisted because he heard so many great stories from the soldiers camped outside the town where he lived, and he wanted to be a soldier. He had also read of the war with ideas of valor. However, when he gets into battle he has many conflicted feelings. Henry stayed with his battalion during the first battle in an attempt to become a heroic soldier. He then ran from the second battle, scared to die. Henry didn’t flee during the first battle because he had great visions of the idealistic soldier. He wanted to prove to himself that he could be that brave soldier. This is shown during his farewell with his school mates. After seeing bloodshed and shattered bones