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Mistakes In Tim O Brien's The Red Badge Of Courage

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Throughout The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane, Henry Fleming makes mistakes and has to relearn what he is capable of. His transgressions include running from a battle, abandoning a dying man, and lying to his comrades. Tim O’Brien defines what a true war story is in his book The Things They Carried, and states that, “A true war story is never moral. It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, nor suggest models of proper human behavior…” Although the youth makes many mistakes throughout The Red Badge of Courage, and many immoral acts are portrayed, it is not a true war story according to Tim O’Brien’s definition. To begin with, The Red Badge of Courage does not show an “absolute and uncompromising allegiance to obscenity and evil,” because throughout the novel, good deeds are shown, and Henry finds role models that are ideals of virtue in war. For example, the loud soldier takes care of Henry after Henry has supposedly been shot in the head, and he lets the youth use his bed and blankets for the night. According to O’Brien, that would not be done in a war story, because in them there is no virtue, there is only an uncompromisable allegiance to evil. No story with that allegiance to evil in it would show kindness, or men taking care of one another. Despite Henry giving the reader several examples of slipping …show more content…

you feel that some small bit of rectitude has been salvaged from the larger waste, then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie,” while in Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage, Henry feels at the end that “He had rid himself of the red sickness of battle,” (p. 155) illustrating how some rectitude has been made. To O’Brien, no rectitude can be made for a story to be a true war story, and therefore, The Red Badge of Courage is not a war

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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.

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One of the four reasons, a true war story has no moral, is demonstrated to verify this chapter factual. O’Brien is torn between whether or not he should go off to war. He says, “Embarrassment, that’s all it was. And right then I submitted.” Although he decides to submit there is no lesson learned and it was purely

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Henry Fleming is a young Union soldier enlistee in the novel The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. Henry goes through many events while away in battle. Some of these make him stronger and others make him weaker. All of these events and encounters changed Henry in some way. As the novel progresses, Henry’s character continues to change and the reader sees many different sides of him.

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The Evolution of the Mind of Henry Fleming The Red Badge of Courage is a historical fiction novel written by Stephen Crane. It takes place during the American Civil War and follows the journey of Henry Fleming, a young man who has enlisted in the war on the side of the Union. Over the course of the story, Henry changes tremendously, starting as a reasonably sane, rather prideful, but also fearful youth, and ending with considerable damage to his psyche, significant blows to his ego, but still having gained some courage. However, the most notable change throughout the book concerns Henry’s sanity, or lack thereof; this is the transformation that will be explored, and Henry’s evolution throughout the novel will be revealed.

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Henry decided to go back to the war and fight alongside his friends. Finally Henry in The Red Badge Courage is a good example of a person showing physical courage in a stressful situation like war. In both the “Life of Frederick Douglass” and The Red Badge of Courage there is also a common theme of Mental courage.

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In both stories, it’s very prevalent that both characters wish to gain their sense of redemption. Henry in “The Red Badge of Courage” started his experience in the war bright-eyed and with stead-fast conviction to achieve greatness in his military career. He wanted to be brave and take on the enemy with vigor. In time he grew to fear battle and he tormented himself with his own perceived cowardice.

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This story is a success because it features components of what O’Brien says is a true war story. This certain short story includes, embarrassment, love, memory, and, shame. This story perfectly depicts the theme of one's conscience versus the society around them. It portrays this theme because it is the perfect example of the fight between what he believe is right and what society believes is wrong and is “unpatriotic” while what he believes is wrong and unworthy of such violence, yet society believes is right. According to O’Brien, in order for war stories to be true they must possess at least some of the elements from his specific definition.

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In the short story, “The Man I Killed,” O’Brien focuses on this to show that everyone fighting in a war has a story. He spends the story describing the man he killed and searching for justification of his actions. He carries around guilt with him because of it, and his fellow soldiers try to help him justify and come to terms with his action by saying things like, “You want to trade places with him? Turn it all upside down= you want that? I mean, be honest,” (126) and “Tim, it’s a war.

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Almost all of the chapters in this book are narrated in a unique way. O’Brien emphasizes the theme of shame in his novel. The author uses this word in many different cases, the majority of which are connected to war and its characteristics. O’Brien argues that a soldier’s greatest motivation for going to and staying in the war is a fear of shame, even though many other factors can be considered as well like women.

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In Tim O’Brien’s novel, “The Things They Carried,” about the Vietnam war, courage is described as a necessity for all soldiers. He uses both him and his comrade’s circumstances to describe this. Throughout the novel the motif of courage evolves as characters serve in the Vietnam War. Being drafted into the Vietnam war forced O’Brien to become a soldier and participate in the war. His distaste for the war made it difficult for him to find the mental courage to fight in Vietnam which he thought was avoidable.

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What makes someone a coward? Lacking Courage, Runs away from their problems, and leaving other people to defend for themselves? Overall most people share these similar traits, such as lacking courage, running away from their problems, and leaving other people to defend for themselves. In the Red Badge of Courage Henry is asking himself if he should stay in his regiment to help fight or leave and make them defend for themselves. Henry's actions throughout the novel may cause the readers to ask, “Is Henry a coward”.

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“How to Tell a True War Story” and “Ambush” are stories that both explore on topics: truth, the real definition of a true war story, and the role of truth. O 'Brien starts off “How to Tell a True War Story” with “This is true.” Starting this story with such a bold sentence not only makes it seem more true, but to some extent, it acts as a comfort statement to the narrator’s own doubts, as if there were unspeakable uncertainties and lies of the narrator. The title of this story also comes into play, with a meta-fictional name “How to Tell a True War Story”, as if it were a guide, a manual, having a true war story tell the readers how to tell a true war story. However ironically, towards the middle of the story, us as

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Even in my imagination, the shore just twenty yards away, I couldn’t make myself be brave. It had nothing to do with morality. Embarrassment, that’s all it was. And right then I submitted. I would go to the war—I would kill and maybe die—because I was embarrassed not to” (O’Brien 57) O’Brien might as well neglected the opportunity to go into the strife, but he choked up enough grit to become a solider.

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No one returns from war the same person who went. War opens an unbridgeable gap between soldiers and civilians. There’s no truth in war—just each soldier’s experience. “You can tell a true war story by its absolute and uncompromising allegiance to obscenity and evil” (from “How to Tell a True War Story,” in O’Brien’s story collection “The Things They Carried”). Irony in modern American war literature takes many forms, and all risk the overfamiliarity that transforms style into cliché.

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Sir Benjamin Franklin wrote a letter to his friend Madame Brillon titled “The Whistle”. In the letter, he uses a parable of a whistle to bring forth his idealism. Benjamin believed that one should not indulge in luxuries or be a miser, but rather one should follow a middle path and think before he pays too much for his whistle. The entire letter is focused on the theme of going overboard to get what you want. Benjamin believed that one should not overpay for his wants but rather one should be focused on doing good.

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