Free Essays on Red Badge Of Courage

Henry’s Greatest Failure: Fleeing From Battle The trials of war force young men to make decisions that they may not be ready to make. In Stephen Crane’s Red Badge of Courage, Henry is faced with many challenges. Many elements of his manhood are challenged. Some of those elements are courage, bravery, and integrity. Fleeing from war because of his fear for his life and leaving a tattered soldier whom he hardly knew were his hardest challenges. Henry’s greatest moral error is his flight from battle because running away from a war is much more cowardly than leaving the tattered soldier to his death. When the rebel forces were charging the union forces, many of the northern fighters had second thoughts about fighting. They had battled hard the previous day and they had their minds set on resting for a while before clashing with the rebels again. Henry observed other soldiers running from the battle as he was watching the fight break out. As was quoted about one young man running, â€Å"There was a revelation. He too threw down his gun and fled. There was no shame in his face. He ran like a rabbit† (Crane 32). While he was running wildly towards the back of the pack â€Å"like a proverbial chicken† (Crane 32), other men were standing their ground and fighting. The commitment of joining the army is to give your life for the cause of the war. Instead of staying and fighting with his fellow brothers of war, he fled the battle and left them all to die. When Henry found out that the union army had held their position, he was â€Å"amazed and angry. He felt that he had been wronged† (Crane 35). He knew what he had done was wrong, and now he felt bad about it because his fellow fighters that had stayed held off the rebel attack. He did not want to think about it in this way though. He thought that he did his job by saving his own life. â€Å"He had considered the time, he said, to be one in which it was the duty of ever... Free Essays on Red Badge Of Courage Free Essays on Red Badge Of Courage Henry’s Greatest Failure: Fleeing From Battle The trials of war force young men to make decisions that they may not be ready to make. In Stephen Crane’s Red Badge of Courage, Henry is faced with many challenges. Many elements of his manhood are challenged. Some of those elements are courage, bravery, and integrity. Fleeing from war because of his fear for his life and leaving a tattered soldier whom he hardly knew were his hardest challenges. Henry’s greatest moral error is his flight from battle because running away from a war is much more cowardly than leaving the tattered soldier to his death. When the rebel forces were charging the union forces, many of the northern fighters had second thoughts about fighting. They had battled hard the previous day and they had their minds set on resting for a while before clashing with the rebels again. Henry observed other soldiers running from the battle as he was watching the fight break out. As was quoted about one young man running, â€Å"There was a revelation. He too threw down his gun and fled. There was no shame in his face. He ran like a rabbit† (Crane 32). While he was running wildly towards the back of the pack â€Å"like a proverbial chicken† (Crane 32), other men were standing their ground and fighting. The commitment of joining the army is to give your life for the cause of the war. Instead of staying and fighting with his fellow brothers of war, he fled the battle and left them all to die. When Henry found out that the union army had held their position, he was â€Å"amazed and angry. He felt that he had been wronged† (Crane 35). He knew what he had done was wrong, and now he felt bad about it because his fellow fighters that had stayed held off the rebel attack. He did not want to think about it in this way though. He thought that he did his job by saving his own life. â€Å"He had considered the time, he said, to be one in which it was the duty of ever... Free Essays on Red Badge Of Courage RED BADGE OF COURAGE Red Badge of Courage Physical and emotional pain is what the tattered solider illustrates in the book. The tattered solider pain comes from all of the horrible things associated with war. Him going crazy brings emotional pain and the physical pain is brought on by the endu rances of war. "There was a tattered man, fouled with dust, blood and powder stain from hair to shoes, who trudged quietly at the youths side". The tattered solider also characterizes the toughness people can endear. Even through the harshness of war people will find something inside of them, overcome it and not let it bother them. The tattered solider goes out and lives through the tough endurance's of war but he finds something inside of him to live through it. The perfect solider is what Jim Conklin brings to the book. Jim never complains about war and fights as good as the next man. Many of the people look up to Jim because he is so strong willed. The regiments almost look up to Jim in a spiritual way find ing peace inside of them when they think of him. It is a tragedy when Jim dies because of all of the moral inspiration he gave the regiment. True to his character Jim dies a quiet and peaceful death not distributing any of the regiment. Wilson represents the two sides of human nature. In the beginning of the book Wilson is a mean tough guy that no one liked. This outward act of being tuff is just a cover of the true nature of Wilson. It is natural for people to cover their true natur e in front of new faces. Towards the end of the book Wilson starts to care about Henry. hen Henry is injured and he doesn't try and fight the other men anymore. True to human nature once times start getting more difficult and Wilson becomes more comforta ble with his surroundings he transcends into the calm compassionate person he really is. All of the characters in the Red Badge of Courage represent some aspect of man either physically or emotionally...