Term Papers on Red Badge Of Courage

Term Paper Title	Red Badge Of Courage
# of Words	1175
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	4.7

Red Badge Of Courage

Henry

     In Stephen Crane's novel "The Red Badge of Courage", we examine the episodes
of war through the eyes of the main character, Henry Fleming. Because the book is rather
vague about many details, we don't know how old Henry is, what he looks like, or where
he comes from. We do know that Henry is from somewhere in New York and that he was
raised by his mother. Although some people argue that throughout the novel Henry
matures and becomes a better person, facts from the book show just the opposite. Henry
is a conceited , smug young man who sees himself as a martyr and a hero; when in fact
he is a coward.
     Henry begins his journey by signing up for the Union army. While this may seem
like a brave step, Henry takes it for the wrong reasons. He is unsure of the Union cause,
and without really understanding what he was fighting for, Henry saw visions of himself
as a hero.  Henry's thoughts of war are rather distorted: He had read signs of marches,
sieges, conflicts, and he had longed to see it all. His busy mind had drawn for him large
pictures, extravagant in color, lurid with breathless deeds(Crane, 3). This simply shows
that Henry had romanticized the was to something of a glorious adventure in his head.
Even when his mother tries to give him rational advice, Henry sat disappointed,
expecting a speech on heroism and pride.
     When Henry and his regiment (the 304th New York) finally integrate into camp
life, he begins to question himself. His regiment had been static for a long time and
Hauptman 2
Henry becomes bored and unhappy. For time he begins to question his bravery and he
feels rather insecure. In the regiments first battle, Henry fights well. His admiration for
himself reaches a disgusting level: He felt that he was a fine fellow. He saw himself even
with those ideals that he had considered far beyond him. He smiled in deep gratification
(Crane, 30). In this passage one can see Henry beginning to falsely view himself as a
hero.
     At the beginning of the 304th New York regiment's second battle, Henry notices
that two other soldiers are running in fear of the fight. He suddenly becomes rather scared
and flees the battle as well. He tries to rationalize his actions to himself by saying: Death
about to thrust him between the shoulder blades was far more dreadful than death about
to smite him between the eyes (Crane, 32). However, when Henry discovers that they had
won the battle, he feels angry and jealous of the other soldiers: The youth cringed as if
discovered at a crime...The imbecile line had remained and become victorious...He
turned away, amazed and angry. He felt that he had been wronged(Crane 34).
     Now, Henry is not fleeing in terror, but in shame. He is trying to run away from
his own cowardice. He begins to pity himself and loose faith in his own romanticized
reasons for enlisting. After walking through the woods for a long time, Henry came upon
a dead soldier. The sight of the body scares him and again he flees from the harsh
realities of war.
     Later in the novel, Henry is knocked in the head with a rifle by a retreating Union
soldier. Henry is ashamed of the wound and becomes embarrassed and scared that the
other soldiers will tease him. When he meets back up with his regiment, they question his
wound. Henry lies and ma...

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