The Red Badge Of Courage Essay

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum have a common theme. Both authors illustrate the importance of courage through internal struggles and challenges. In both novels, a character experiments with courage and evolve to thrive with it. In The Red Badge of Courage, Henry earns his courage while serving in the army. In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Lion finds his courage in the magical land of Oz. In short, Henry and The Lion undergo character development from lacking necessary bravery to showing a great deal of courage. At the start of these tales, both Henry and The Cowardly Lion lacked courage. Henry joined the army with hopes of a glorious future. Instead, he fled from his first battle.

Henry learned from talking to the tattered soldier and watching his friend die from combat. These experiences encouraged him to be more courageous which showed when he led the charge in his last battle by carrying the flag of his army and motivating the other soldiers in his regiment. Likewise, The Lion displays courage many times during Dorothy’s journey but did not realize it. He first believes in his courage when he starts to rule over all the animals in the forest. All in all, Henry and The Lion valued courage enough to evolve themselves into courageous beings either in the army or in the forest. At the end of these novels, both Henry and The Lion have gained a lot of self confidence to display a plethora of courage. While they have both developed for the better, The Lion did not was not as challenged as Henry. The Lion was expected to be the king of the forest. His journey ended in him meeting what was expected of his. On the other hand, Henry was only expected to be a regular soldier. Instead, he went above and beyond and led his side to victory. Considering this, Henry showed more courage in his achievements with the army than The Lion did with his accomplishments in the