For War

For War

The first steps in war are the steps of overcoming the line of comfort by solving the self-centered beliefs that will break you in a battlefront. Once overcoming those selfish traits and believe in yourself, that is when one flourish on the battle field. Henry Fleming's urge for war was short lived when he was put on the frontline. Henry Fleming was a fearful, coward, who always gained self-control and self-comfort by talking to himself. He exhibited selfish traits throughout the book. Leading up to the Armageddon of the war, Henry overcame his selfish ways and delivered the rebel army their final blow. In The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane Henry Fleming overcomes fear, cowardice, and egotism which in all lead him to becoming a major helpful and admired hand in beating the rebel army.

Henry Fleming fear leads him to two different paths throughout the book. Once he overcomes his fear, he is one step closer to becoming a helpful hand in beating the rebel army. Henry begins to think about what war is really like, and he comes upon a strong point when he asks fellow men in his regiment "think any of the boys'll run" (Crane9)? His fears cause him to run from battle. The men in his regiment do not help Henry because they are all older, and most of them are already established veterans. Henry is afraid of the unknown. Once Henry and the regiment enter the battle Henry's thoughts about war are proven wrong, he began to lose self-control, the smells, sites, and sounds became to much "he wished to get out of the crackling shots which to him were like voices"(Crane5) he did this by running away from the regiment to the forest. Henry's fears take over, and his only way to achieve his self comfort again is to run away from the battle. Henry uses the forest to calm himself. The forest is where he begins to overcome his selfish ways, he reflects back on the battle and the men, and starts to believe that he can be of help to one or more of the men in the regiment. Henry eventually wins over the fear and joins with another regiment to fight against the rebels.

Henry overcomes his concerns of the unknown, but he still lacks courage to talk to the commanders and the leaders of the regiment, which shows his cowardice. Henry has this lack of courage because he felt ashamed. Henry viewed his shame and lack of courage as a burden on other soldiers in the regiment. He felt that the soldiers who had a wound were fulfilled, and he envied him because they had "a red badge of courage" (Crane84) the courage that he lacked. His lack of "a red badge of courage" (Crane84) was short lived when he was shot. Jim Conklin, a man of Henry's first regiment, is amazed to see that Henry is shot. Jim took Henry to the commander for medical attention. The men of the regiment help Henry gain courage. The men of the regiment ask questions like "where yeh hit" (Cane57) which Henry doesn't realize that he is not burdening his fellow officers, they only want to help.