In “A Mystery of Heroism” by Stephen Crane the character Fred Collins is best considered a dynamic and approvable character in terms of characterization. In the story the main character Fred Collins is pressured to get water from across the meadow by his fellow soldiers after stating “I wisht I had a drink” (line 46). It is in this quest to get water from the farm beyond the meadow that characterizes Fred Collins as dynamic and approvable character.

Fred Collins dynamicness is demonstrated when he walks out into the meadow and comes to the realization that “He was not a hero” (line 157) and recalls his past mistakes of borrowing money from a friend “and then avoiding him for ten months” (line 159) as well as being “irritable, childish, diabolical”