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What Are The Similarities Between Frederick Douglass And The Red Badge Of Courage

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In both “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” by Fredrick Douglass and the movie of The Red Badge of Courage screen written by John Houston but based on the book by Stephen Crane, similarities are shown in the main character’s mental state, physical state, and more. To be more specific, both stories show a sense of mental and physical “war” going on. With Fredrick Douglass, he was in a mental war with himself about trying to get out of slavery and become a free man. His physical war is physically fighting with his owner in order to earn and receive the correct treatment and the equality that he deserves. For Henry, his mental war was with himself and wanting to leave and run from his fears but he also wanted to fight …show more content…

Henry from The Red Badge of Courage was also going through a mental war along with his physical war. His war was about wanting to be safe and leave the war to be with his family. He wanted to run away but at the same time be courageous and become known as that “war hero”. One example from the movie to show his mental war was when all of the soldiers were so happy and laughing and he could not help but be sad. He had walked away to just go think and another soldier had noticed. The other soldier came up to him and asked what was going on. Henry did not know what to say. This scene shows that even Henry was confused and upset at the fact that he could not be like everyone else and just be happy. He was struggling to be happy because he had more things going on. He wanted to be that courageous hero but he had other factors weighing on his heart. This scene shows the mental war he is having and just how much he misses his family and does not want to lose them. While going through these mental wars, both men were also going through physical wars which made their journey harder. Frederick was being beaten by his owner repeatedly …show more content…

One night, he got into a fight with his owner, the fight became physical and another slave had come into the barn looking for them. The master demanded help because he became scared of losing. The other slave refused to help. He knew that the punishment he would go through after not helping would be better than the mental punishment he would put on himself for going against one of his own kind. At the end of the fight, Frederick ends up winning and he is not beaten as regularly. He thanked the root he had carried in his pocket. On Henry’s side of the story, he is going through a literal war, the Civil War, and he is on the battlefields and feeling alone. For example, he was in one particular battle and the other side was making headway. They began to get closer and closer and Henry became scared. His commander was telling all of the soldiers to stay and fight. The commander told them to fire and hold their ground, one soldier even tried to run but was caught and told that he must stay. Henry became scared and decided to run. Nobody saw him but he felt so terrible for what he had done once he had time to

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In “Red Badge of Courage” young union soldier Henry, bravely fights alongside his fellow soldiers in his first battle. However once the second battle starts he flees. Through the first four chapters, leading up to the battle, you can see Henry’s apprehension slowly rise. The army is constantly moving, which makes him and his fellow soldiers uneasy. After his regiment is finally settled into one position, young Henry’s first battle begins.

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At the beginning of chapter 13, he was in Baltimore with his friends and he had gotten the news that old master and a few others had died, he was moved away to his new home. He felt like in the slave master’s eyes they are no different than the cattle that they take care of. Frederick had a hard time leaving Baltimore because he had some friends/students that he taught and played with. When they were done with dividing they sent him to his new owners, the master was stingy and the mistress was cruel. They gave him and the other slaves just enough to survive, his hunger was so bad that he sometimes had to steal food (he was against any type of stealing at the time).

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On his way back to the base he comes across a column of wounded soldiers. Specifically, a tattered man who has been shot twice and speaks proudly of the fact. Feeling envious, Henry wishes “…that he, too, had a wound, a red badge of courage” (Crane, p.67) that he could claim. He and the tattered man together try find their way back to base. He starts to question Henry about how he found his way so far from the rest and his ‘injuries’.

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In battle, there are many ways to be put in the wrong position. A few erratic decisions can cause lifelong problems. In “The Red Badge of Courage” Stephan Crane shows the many situations in battle during the Civil War in 1860. Henry Fleming, also known as “The Youth,” made many notable decisions that would consider him a coward rather than a hero. Henry demonstrates a coward because he ran during the battle, deserted the tattered soldier, and lied to the other soldiers.

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In the slave narrative “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,” Douglass lacks a great deal of courage at the beginning of the story. Douglass runs away in fear after a brutal beating from Mr. Covey. Douglass was so afraid and worried as to what might happen to him if he stays with Mr. Covey. In the film, The Red Badge of Courage, Henry has a similar experience. As Henry heads to the battlefield, fear overcomes him, he only had the courage to stay for the first leg of the battle because he soon flees the sight.

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To start briefly, we begin the story when Frederick is still a young child working as a simple barn-hand in his master’s plantation. Later on he’s sent to live with his master’s relative, Hugh Auld, in Baltimore, where his new-found want of freedom is born. It is in Baltimore we he begins to educate himself in preparation of leaving one day. Unfortunately, when his master dies and his children as well, Frederick is sent back to live on the plantation where he hasn’t been since a child. His new master believing the city life has ruined him sends him to be reformed by a

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(p.16).Even Henry Fleming had a big dream, when he was immature, which was to be a hero in the war like General from the old Greek story, and he could not think the war is not scary, dangerous, and horror. However, he thought the war was going to be a place that he can be a hero. After the first battle, he noticed war is not as much fun as he thought, so he ran away from the battle and worrying about how his fellow soldiers will talk about him after they caught him ran away. However, he became a man after ran away from the horror.

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Frederick Douglass's “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” and John Huston's movie The Red Badge of Courage originally written by Stephen Crane are two prominent works of literature that deal with different aspects of the human experience. Both works have important themes and ideals between them they have become known as American literary classics. They have become very important works over time. Despite the differences in their subject matter, these works share many similarities in terms of their themes, style, and representation of the human spirit. “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” is a firsthand account of the author's experiences as a slave in the 19th century.

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He is not the scared wimpy and weak person that he was back then he is now a brave man ready to roll into action! It is early May and Henry was going on his morning walk while he was walking he heard two men in a shop say “Did you hear about the rebellion army that say they declare war on the U.S?” This news shocked Henry he was wondering

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The book opens to a regiment camp that has yet to see battle. After grumbling about their lack of fighting, they are sent on a two day march to battle. During this time, Henry is afraid that he will desert. Once they get there, his regiment fights valiantly. Henry realizes at that battle, he couldn’t have run if he wanted to, he was

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Throughout Fredericks childhood, there were a lot of examples where he was put into terrible abuse and terrible behavior involving him. As a young boy he learned the first lesson about slavery

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In the novel, conflict is used to show the reality of war and the effect it can have on a person. Throughout the length of the story, Henry deals with conflicts that relate to nature, other men, and even some in particular that lie within his own person. These

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However, it soon dawns on him that war is brutal and jeopardous, somewhat contradictory to what he visualizes before. The soldier’s wound, the corpses and the flag symbolize Henry’s most wide-eyed innervations, the cruelty of the war as well as Henry’s maturity. The wound, without a doubt, is the most far-reaching symbol of the story. To Henry, wounds are “ a red badge of courage”, it represents the soldier dignity and offers one with great renown.

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This illustrates how Henry believes in the importance of himself, it amazes him that nature is so ignorant or oblivious to the obvious terror and “devilment” around him. “New eyes were given to him. And the most startling thing was to learn suddenly that he was very insignificant.” (Crane 100). At this point in the novel, Henry realizes his insignificance, that even war is not the biggest thing in the entire universe in natures eyes.

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The books he reads and knowledge he’s gotten has made him angry at other slaves with a lack of knowing what is going on. The life of slavery really just ruins your mind and thoughts, and makes you feel discouraged, but Frederick had the education piece in his life. In the text Frederick says, “I often found myself regretting my own existence, and wishing myself dead; and but for the hope of being free, I have no doubt but that I should have killed myself, or done something for which I should have been killed” (Douglass 54). With his newfound knowledge he starts to contemplate his existence. The hope of being free still pushes him, even if it may lead to death.

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