Henry Fleming, a teenager who is a soldier of the Union Army, fights along other soldiers in his first battle. Henry has hopes of achieving his dreams of glory but after enlisting into the army, reality sets him back. The first battle was new territory for him, Henry not knowing what to expect. As the battle becomes more frightening for him, the fears crept into his mind and death. The army is not as glorious as he thought it was when he first joined.
He ultimately ends up fleeing the scene when the second battle ensues. I suppose he does this because the fear of death overwhelms him and he took off. He had no hesitation of fleeing the scene. His thoughts of running away or staying is decided in one quick moment, "He, too, threw down his gun and fled. There was no shame in his face. He ran like a rabbit" (Red Badge of Courage). Death was a little to much for him to fathom and his instinct of living took over him. He reacted the way he did for the simple impulse of escaping his death. That is the reason why he fled the second battle. I believe the fear and the thought of death scared him beyond the point of him thinking rationally about his decision of staying or running off from the battle. He decided to run off from the fear of dying in battle get away from him.
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In the first battle Henry fires into the battle, blindly not seeing his enemy. As the second battle approaches, he gets scared so that is when he flees the scene of the second battle. I do not think flees the first battle because he did not know that to expect, so when the second battle approaches he knows that there real possibility of him dying. Before his first battle he has to think of his courage. "Whatever he had learned of him self was here no avail. He was an unknown quantity" (Red Badge of Courage). He had to figure out his courage and fathom his thoughts before his first battle but nothing could prepare him for his