Character Projections Of Henry Fleming S Char

Essay, Research Paper

Character Projections of Henry Fleming s Character in The Red Badge Of Courage In The Red Badge of Courage, written by Stephen Crane about the Civil War tells about the decisions in a young soldiers life in battle. The young soldier, Henry Fleming, is faced with the dilemma of whether or not he should run when it comes down to fighting. Throughout the novel, Henry envies the soldiers with their wounds, or red badges of courage, and wishes he was as courageous as them as he watches others get wounded and die. I will show you how the other characters in the novel project Henry s character. Physical and emotional pain is what the tattered solider illustrates in the book. The tattered soldiers 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 endurance s 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. Henry wishes that he could overcome his problems and go out and fight the war like an excellent soldier. He doesn t want to run from battle when a soldier fires a shot, he wants his own red badge of courage, not just a bruise from being hit by the butt of a gun. 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 finding 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. Considering the fact that Jim is so confident in war, Henry doesn t see how he can just go out and fight, Jim doesn t seem to be scared about the outcome of the battle, whereas Henry keeps altering his opinions on what to do about his dilemma. Also, Jim acts as a role model of Henry s because he is a soldier that died with pride, I think that Jim may have been an inspiration to Henry to get out there and lead the 304th regiment.

Wilson, the loud soldier, 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 tough is just a cover of the true nature of Wilson. Towards the end of the book Wilson starts to care about Henry. Then, Henry is injured and he doesn t try and fight the other men anymore. While Henry is injured, Wilson tries to take care of him. Once times start getting more difficult and Wilson becomes more comfortable with his surroundings he transcends into the calm compassionate person he really is. Henry appreciates this comfort from Wilson and enjoys his company. All of the characters in the Red Badge of Courage represent some aspect of Henry s character either physically or emotionally. This connection between the characters and the reader make the book true to life and more believable. Since the characters feel so real, physically and emotionally, the reader has an easier time relating to them.