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The Red Badge Of Courage Henry Fleming Essay

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Psychoanalytic Theory with Henry Fleming The theory of psychoanalysis is used in order to determine how a character’s personality, conscience, and ego contributes to his or her actions (verywellmind.com). By analyzing these character’s thoughts, it can easily be seen why a character takes part in an idea or action (public.wsu.edu). Today, people will often want to have a title placed on them in order for themselves to feel better or for others to view them as a greater figure. However, many do not want to put the effort forth in order to receive honest recognition and would rather it be given to them instead. In the book, “The Red Badge of Courage,” what drives the main character to take part in certain behaviors stems from him wanting …show more content…

The most prominent example of this type of situation that occurs in the book is when Henry lies about what his injury was really caused by (Crane 71). Henry wanted nothing more than to be considered a hero. He thought by obtaining an injury he would obtain his “red badge of courage” and become one (Crane 50). However, when he truly did receive an injury, he felt that its cause was not considered heroic, but merely idiotic. The wound to him was considered idiotic because it happened when he had no idea what was going on and because the wound was due to his own comrade hitting him in the head with the back of a rifle (Crane 66). This had caused him to lie about its real cause, claiming that it was from an enemy soldier shooting him in the head when he got separated from the company (Crane 71-72). Henry also did not want to be the reason why his company was considered useless and did not want to be responsible for its failures. Not wanting to take the blame for any of this caused him to deflect the blame on anyone but himself. He blamed the leadership of the generals for how the soldiers fought, which also allowed him to hide his fear and portray his confidence over the situation even though he was questioned by another comrade on his part in the fight that happened the day before (Crane

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He struggles to reconcile his actions with his previous definition of courage and finds his own definition being forced to changed. After receiving his own red badge of courage and fighting in a battle successfully, Henry finds courage in becoming a piece of the war machine, a part of the cause behind the fighting. When he holds the flag he finds his purpose and is “...capable of profound sacrifices” and instead of wishing for a glorified death to gain ultimate praise he found that “...he thought of the bullets only as things that could prevent him from reaching the place of his endeavor” (118). As Henry held to the flag and led the soldiers without recognition, he found his true

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The captain of the youth’s company had been killed in an early part of the action. His body lay stretched out in the position of a tired man resting, but upon his face there was an astonished and sorrowful look, as if he thought some friend had done him an ill turn" (Crane) War is violent. This is not a reason to ban The Red Badge of Courage because violence is expected in a war

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“The youth thought that at last he was going to suffocate. He became aware of the foul atmosphere in which he had been struggling.” (Crane ch5 pg.3) One thing that everyone forgets about is all the gun and cannon smoke, which is horrible to breathe in. Henry must have been in a bad area and he was not getting enough oxygen.

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He tried to convince himself that his cowardice was just. He began feeling ashamed for being a coward. While he was running he joined up with a column of wounded soldiers. He became envious of them, thinking that their wounds were a “red badge of courage”. Henry met a tattered man who had been shot twice.

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