Commentary on The Red Badge Of Courage Essay

The Red Badge of Courage Summary

During the Civil War, a Union regiment rests along a riverbank, where it has been camped for weeks. A tall soldier named Jim Conklin spreads a rumor that the army will soon march. Eventually word gets to Henry Fleming, a recent recruit with this 304th Regiment, who is struggling to find his courage, because he fears that if he were to see battle, he might run. Yet, ironically, the narrator reveals that Henry joined the army because he was drawn to the glory of military conflict. However, since the time he joined, the army has merely been waiting for engagement.

At last the regiment is given orders to march, and the soldiers spend several miserable days traveling on foot. Eventually they approach a battlefield and begin to hear the distant cry of war. Later after securing its position, the enemy charges, leaving Henry boxed in by his fellow soldiers. Considering the thought of running away, he realizes that he is trapped and that he could not run even if he wanted to. As adrenaline rapidly starts to take over his actions and thoughts, he is left to fend off the enemy soldiers by engaging in combat with firearms.

The Union, dressed in blue, regiment defeats the Confederate soldiers, dressed in gray, and the victors congratulate one another. Later that day, Henry wakes from a brief nap to find that the enemy is again charging his regiment. Terror overtakes him this time and he flees the line. As he scurries across the landscape, he tells himself that made the right decision, that his regiment could not have won, and that the men who remained to fight were foolish. Still running, Henry passes a general on horseback and overhears the commander saying that the regiment has held back the enemy charge. Ashamed of his cowardice, Henry tries to convince himself that he was right to not risk his own life just to end up losing anyways.

After a length of time, Henry meets up with a column of wounded soldiers winding down the road. He is deeply envious of these men, thinking that a wound is like a red badge of courage, basically a tattoo marking their courageous behavior. Strolling along, Henry meets a tattered man who has been shot twice and how proud he is of the fact that his regiment did not flee. The man repeatedly asks Henry where he is wounded, making Henry deeply uncomfortable which compels him to hurry away to a different part of the column.

Not much later, Henry crosses a spectral soldier with a distant, numb look on his face. To Henrys recognition, the man turns out to be none other than Jim Conklin, who is servilely wounded and hurt. Henry promises to take care of Jim, no matter what the cost, but Jim decides runs from the line into a small grove of bushes where Henry and the tattered man have no choice, but to watch him die.

Henry and the tattered soldier wander through the woods. Henry hears the murmur of combat in the distance. The tattered soldier continues to ask Henry about his wound, even as his own health visibly worsens. At last, Henry is unable to bear the tattered mans questioning and abandons him to die in the forest.

Henry continues to wander until he finds himself close enough to the battlefield to be able to watch some of the fighting. He sees a blue regiment in retreat and attempts to stop the soldiers to find out what has happened. One of the fleeing men hits him on the head with a rifle, creating a bloody gash on Henrys head. As a result, another soldier leads Henry to his regiments camp, where Henry is reunited with his companions. There, his friend Wilson believes that Henry has been shot due to the gash on his head, and cares for him tenderly.

The next day, the regiment heads back to the battlefield. Henry fights ferociously and brave hearted. Thinking of Jim Conklin as he vents his rage against the enemy soldiers. His lieutenant makes remarks saying that with ten thousand Henrys, he could win the war in a week. Nevertheless, Henry and Wilson overhear an officer say that the soldiers of the 304th fight like mule drivers. Insulted, they long to prove the man wrong. In an ensuing charge, the regiments color bearer falls. Henry takes the flag and carries it proudly before the regiment. After the charge fails, the derisive officer tells the regiments colonel that his men fight like mud diggers, putting Henrys temper at its peak. Just when he thought he was going to lose it, another soldier ends Henrys rage by announcing to Henry and Wilson his gratification, stating that the colonel and lieutenant considered them to be the best fighters in the regiment.

The group, yet again, is sent into more fighting, and Henry continues to carry the flag throughout the whole battle. In the end, the regiment charges a group of enemy soldiers fortified behind a fence, and after a pitched battle, wins the fence. Wilson seizes the enemy flag and the regiment takes four prisoners. As he and the others march back to their position, Henry reflects on his experiences in the war. Though he revels in his recent success in battle, he feels deeply ashamed of his behavior the previous day, especially his abandonment of the tattered man. Only following a time of reflection, Henry puts his guilt behind him. Realizing that he has come through the red sickness of battle. Henry leaves us by showing that he is now able to look forward to having peace within himself. Introducing a new sense of courage that he has never felt, that was once hidden deep inside himself.

Characterization

Henry, or "The Youth" as he is also called, is obviously the main character of the book as basically the whole book is about him. The novel interprets the complete growth of this young man, who somehow changes from an immature adolescent to a war-weary adult, over the course of just a few days.

It is also obvious that the obtainment of and displaying of courage are the primary themes of the novel. They are simultaneously Henrys largest goals and fears. At first, Henry has as a hard time balancing his courage at war. He assumes that he will come home a hero, or not come home at all. His death, at this point, is just lurking around the corner to him. He has no idea of what is actually involved in fighting. He has never even seen a dead body.

Once he gets a bit of experience with war and death, Henrys views of courage change. Suddenly, it appears that courage is something that other men have, but a thing that he clearly does not possess. Courage, and the lack of it, is now his main obstacle and obsession. When he gives in to his fear and runs from the battlefield, he is ashamed, but he also quickly realizes that this is something any human would do under those same circumstances. ? As time goes on, Henry becomes more daring, and by the end of the novel, he has become a more mature and seasoned man who has faced the very worst. As Henry marches victoriously from battle, his notions of courage are now more complex and realistic. He knows that all men have equal stores of courage and cowardice, and an equal choice about when and how to use them.

When considering a reasonable person of the junior class that relates to the character Henry, only one person matches more than the others, and his name is Tom Darling. Not only, is he a great person to compare to Henry, but he also happens to be a good pal of mine, allowing a first hand knowledge on what exactly makes him a likely target to pick on.

Now, being someone that has known Tom for quite some time now, its pretty fair to assume that hes a bit of child at heart, well for the most part. Not only is he still scared of the dark, but if he was ever to be face to face in combat, theres not a chance that he wouldnt wimp out and run away to go hide in fear.

That quality relates a lot to how nervous and intimidated Henry is of having to engage in combat. Henry is scared of dying every minute of the day. In the beginning, not once does Henry actually give the slightest hint that he is a brave warrior who embraces war, rather he shows a timid and childish side that we come to know him as instead. Its not until later on in the novel that Henry actually grows a sense of manhood by involving himself in multiple battles and proves to us that he has grown up within the couple day period that is given.

Now back to our junior classmate, Tom Darling. He is not only a tad bit scared of physical contact, but also he has a tendency to be very self centered. Any time of the day, its all about Tom, he generally acts like he is the only guy in the world that matters. As if, without him, we would be clueless on how to survive and make logical judgements.

Well, that basically sums up how Henry is throughout the entire novel. He makes poor decisions that seem reasonable to him, but very selfish in the eyes of others. Take for example when Henry completely abandons the tattered man in the forest to die. How could someone do something so inhumane and disgusting? Just because he was getting on Henrys nerves, he goes and just leaves him. Thats just morally wrong and selfish. Now, no ones saying that poor old Tom would do something like that, but hes still self-centered, that was just to get the point across.

In many ways are Henry and Tom alike. Crane takes Henrys infamous qualities to a more extreme understanding, but Tom is simplistic in his examples of selfishness and timidness, allowing him to be a good mirror image of the kind of person Henry was.