Red Badge Of Courage Analysis

In today’s society, social media and the news channels focus on violent events and war on a daily basis. The Red Badge of Courage takes place during the U.S. Civil War. The novel is famous for its portrayal of war through the eyes of an inexperienced, young soldier, rather than a broad view on war. Henry is a young and rookie soldier who has always dreamed of fighting in combat, but when he actually gets the chance he has to learn very quickly about the different details of war. Henry also faces some very hard and depressing moments of war that with time, henry had overcome and helped tremendously in the Civil War. Stephen Crane explores the psychological battles faced by an individual, which is just as important as the physical battles fought

After war, Henry was struggling to stop thinking about every little detail of what he went through while in battle. Henry mind was full of violence and experiences that he thought would never leave his mind, “For a time the young was obliged to reflect in a puzzled and uncertain way. His mind was undergoing a subtle change. It took moments for it to cast off its battleful ways and resume its accustomed course of thought. Gradually his brain emerged from the clogged clouds, and at last he was enabled to more closely comprehend himself and circumstances” (Crane 87). In today 's society this would be a form of PTSD ( post traumatic stress disorder). Although PTSD was not an actual disorder discovered yet during the civil War, the signs were all there and it was known as battle fatigue. After losing some of his closest friends and watching people around him get shot and die, he was left with many memories that were very hard for him to stop thinking about. PTSD involves re-experiencing the trauma, avoidance of things that are reminders of the trauma, and an uncomfortable state of arousal usually connected with readiness to avoid re-experiencing a trauma (Piotrowski and Range). Thousand of soldiers who come home from all different wars get diagnosed with PTSD and struggle to have a normal life after war. High school students do not understand how hard it is to live a typical lifestyle while suffering with the psychological impacts of post war. In the novel, The Red Badge of Courage, Henry had to learn about his emotional “on/off switch”. This was how henry was able to kill people during battle because he had to not let his emotions get to him and had to pick when to be emotional or not. This concept in very important for adolescents to realize because war is a scary idea and