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In “Red Badge of Courage” young union soldier Henry, bravely fights alongside his fellow soldiers in his first battle. However once the second battle starts he flees. Through the first four chapters, leading up to the battle, you can see Henry’s apprehension slowly rise. The army is constantly moving, which makes him and his fellow soldiers uneasy. After his regiment is finally settled into one position, young Henry’s first battle begins.
In the beginning of the story Henrys doubt and struggle to find courage seriously affects his faith in himself. He joined the army because he was drawn to the glory of military conflict; considering war a sort of accessory. In the book it states, “He had read of marches, sieges, conflicts, and he had longed to see it all.
In “the Red Badge of Courage” the Narrator only focuses on one main character “the youth,” Henry Fleming's is more of an outsider. Henry is just watching other soldiers fight while he’s doing his own. “The separation was as great to him as if they had marched with weapons of flame and banners of sunlight. He could never be like them.” It tells us how isolated he is.
In The Red Badge of Courage, the reader follows a character known as the youth whose constant struggle both internally, trying to prove to himself that his fleeing from battle and overall cowardice is natural, and externally as he fights the United States worst war are both questioning whether Henry can truly call himself a man. Although Henry starts this story a full blown deserter, he drastically changes once he feels he belongs, becoming not only a great soldier who rallied men against a terrible foe, but indeed became all a man can be. As Henry enters his first battle he “thought he might very likely run”(Crane 30), which he had been arguing with himself about for the past few days. Ever since he was a kid, Henry had dreamed of the glory
In battle, there are many ways to be put in the wrong position. A few erratic decisions can cause lifelong problems. In “The Red Badge of Courage” Stephan Crane shows the many situations in battle during the Civil War in 1860. Henry Fleming, also known as “The Youth,” made many notable decisions that would consider him a coward rather than a hero. Henry demonstrates a coward because he ran during the battle, deserted the tattered soldier, and lied to the other soldiers.
What made Henry Fleming a true honorable man? The story in The Red Badge of Courage had many themes that stood out to me. Most of these themes were portrayed by the main character Henry Fleming. One obvious theme of this story was Courage which arguably could have been foreshadowed in its title.
The Masque of the Red Death is a short story written by Edgar Allen Poe, and was later adapted into a graphic novel by Gareth Hinds. The Masque of the Red Death is about a Prince named Prospero who invites a thousand of his friends into his castle to party and to escape the raging epidemic outside. This epidemic, called the Red Death, causes sudden dizziness, intense pain, and profuse bleeding. The disease can kill its victims in half an hour. One night while Prince Prospero is throwing a masquerade party in a seven room suite, a masked but terrifying individual arrives and terrifies the Prince and his guests.
In Stephen Crane’s Red Badge of Courage, Henry Fleming evolves from an anti-hero to a hero. The biggest difference between an anti-hero and a hero is motivation. Towards the beginning of the novel in Fleming’s inexperienced state, his goal was to become a respected soldier, but later in the novel as his motivations change, his goal became to protect his regiment with his life. Fleming’s new, heroic motivations require him to develop new characteristics. Henry Fleming evolves from an anti-hero to a hero by becoming brave, altruistic, and influential.
Courage comes in many different forms. Everyone has many things in their life they must use their courage for. The “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas” by Frederick Douglas, and the movie The Red Badge of Courage by John Huston focus on the content of finding the courage inside of one’s self, and the acts of bravery or leadership that come from this newfound courage. Both men aim to show how harsh situations can change people, and what a little courage and bravery can do for a person.
. The idea that war is an energizing, sentimental undertaking loaded with magnificence and gallantry has existed for a considerable length of time and proceeds to some degree today. One hundred years back, notwithstanding, Stephen Crane set out to crush these legends through his novel The Red Badge of Courage, which follows the encounters of a youthful trooper in the American Civil War. Crane demonstrates the genuine idea of war by differentiating Henry Fleming's sentimental desires with the truth that he experiences. "Soon, the enemy is upon Henry’s regiment, which, at the last minute, mounts a respectable defense.
As defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a hero is “a person who is admired for great or brave acts [of purpose] or fine qualities.” In the book, The Red Badge of Courage, Henry Fleming is not a protagonist, nor a hero because he does not behave as a hero should and does not possess the qualities of a hero. He becomes motivated to enlist merely because of his desire for glory, flees from his first experience in battle, and leaves the tattered soldier alone. Fleming’s self-absorbed, cowardly, and selfish behavior are of a tempestuous teenager, who is clearly not a hero.
Throughout Stephen Crane’s Red Badge of Courage, Henry Fleming grows as a character, but not quite to a hero. Enlightened by his ability, Fleming finds confidence as a “young soldier.” Nonetheless his earlier failures and fears detract from one’s heroic image of Henry. Although Henry Fleming evolves into a man with heroic qualities, his fearful attitude, narcissism, and lack of leadership all characterize Fleming as a protagonist, not a hero.
Conflict is one of the most basic elements of natural human behavior. Conflict, from a literary standpoint, serves its purpose to create tension within a story, which as a result keeps readers interested and engaged. Whether the conflict is with another person, with nature, or within yourself, it is ubiquitous and unavoidable. In Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage, the struggles that Henry faces help to give depth and meaning to the story, as well as develop Henry as a character.
Courage is an ideal created in one’s mind that can only be gained through self-acceptance. Courage can be a trait others see, however the question is whether or not one sees it in oneself. Stephen Crane’s artfully crafted novel, The Red Badge of Courage, depicts this inner conflict through a young solider in search of glory on the battlefield, Henry Fleming. Set during the Battle of Chancellorsville (1863), the raging Civil War provides the perfect backdrop for the novel. Stephen Crane published The Red Badge of Courage in October 1895 and masterfully portrayed his ‘Youths’ internal struggle.
A Soldier’s Dilemma Like many others in his regiment, Henry Fleming, protagonist in The Red Badge of Courage, expects the Battle of Chancellorsville to be filled with heroism and legendary acts of dauntless heroism. Heroism, however, seems nowhere to be found, and Henry is left questioning his own valor. In The Red Badge of Courage, Crane writes Henry Fleming as a flawed yet good-hearted character by revealing his inner thoughts as he runs from the battle, his actions directed toward comrades, and by displaying Henry’s differences at the end of the story to emphasize the inner struggle between courage and cowardice.
