After the charge of the enemy Henry realized that he was an insignificant part of the battle. Henry realizes that men only do what they have to in a situation to survive and in war men are not thinking consciously enough to make decisions of bravery. In the minds of the leaders it is determined by the amount of land one controls in battle in the eyes of the soldiers bravery is how hard and ferociously they fought. BraveryĪnd heroism are measured different in all peoples minds. He realizes that he is an insignificant part of a vast sea of soldiers and this removes all the ideas of heroic battles of war in Henry s mind. At this point Henry realizes that nobody knows where they are going or why they are going their. His ego is shot down quite a bit by a soldier sarcastically asking him Mebbe yeh think yeh fit th hull battle yestirday. Henry is now fighting bravely and courageously. Henry attitude toward the romantic and heroic aspects of war have changed dramatically throughout the novel. This is the point in the novel in which Henry is reborn due to his wound ironically one of his own fellow soldiers gave it to him. Notices Wilson s change of attitude and even his thoughtfulness of letting Henry sleep in his bed. Henry notices how people react to his wound on his head he When Henry is struck in the by his own comrades and receives his red badge of courage, he feels that the shame has been lifted off of his shoulders and he could once again stand tall for himself. He feels that his only way out was for his army to lose the battle so they would all share in the great shame he had felt. Returns to wandering in the forest again. He yearns for his own red badge of courage so that he can feel heroic like these men before him feel. Henry finds out that these men have been wounded and believes that they are all looking at him. Soon after Henry finds a group of men marching and this is when he feels the most shame throughout the novel. Henry views this as an instinct for preservation, all living things try to preserve themselves from harm by running away from danger. Henry begins to rationalize his decision by throwing a pine cone at a squirrel in the forest the squirrel runs away. At this point Henry still has feels that war is a great heroic epic and is in great shame that he had run from battle so cowardly. This causes Henry to start running disillusioned and without direction. But, when Henry starts to see troops running away he becomes panicked and begins to think they are leaving him to fight the battle alone. Henry is very pleased with himself that he had stood up to battle like a man and had not run like a coward. He believes that maybe the first fight was just a prelude to the one that lies ahead, and is once again scared that he will run from battle when his regiment needs him the most. But, Henry sees soldiers retreatingĪnd thinks to himself that maybe he has not seen the actual enemy yet. 3) This fight proved to Henry that in battle he will stay and fight like a man. Henry still had an idealistic thought of war and told himself that a man became another thing in battle. Henry begins to become angered for his government sending him on this deathmarch, then he realizes that he had enlisted voluntarily. This is the first time that Henry sees a realistic viewpoint of war. In Chapter Three Henry is tested in battle for the first time and stays and fights Henry begins to think that he will not fight but he will run from battle like a coward. When Henry arrives for his duty in the military he begins to second guess himself. He believed that he would make a difference in battle and would have a direct impact on the outcome of battle. He perceived war to be a great struggle between two opposing forces fighting for their own beliefs(Ch.1 ). As the novel progresses Henry comes to realize that his idealized notions of war and death, for his country, were all illusions he was creating for himself.īeing a young man from a small house in New York, all that Henry Fleming new about war is what he imagined it to be in his head. When Henry first decides to enlist their is a perception of war that he has in his mind he later finds out that war is not as glorious and courageous as his mind had perceived. Throughout the novel The Red Badge of Courage, Henry Fleming is in a constant struggle between his illusions of war and reality.
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