Red Badge of Courage :: essays research papers

Red Badge of Courage Book Report The main point in The Red Badge of Courage is Henry Flemings fear about how he will do in his first skrimish in the Civil War. Henry was a young man who lived on a farm with his mother. He dreamed about what fighting in a war would be like, and dreamed of being a hero. He dreamed of the battles of war, and of what it would be like to fight in those glorious battles. His mother was wise and caring. She did not want him to go to war. She gave him hundreds of reasons on why he was needed on the farm and not in the war. He didn't want to stay in the farm and do nothing, so he enlisted in the miliatary. After joining he found himself, with nothing to do. He became friends with two other soldiers, John Wilson and Jim Conklin. John was an obnoxious soldier, but he becomes one of Henry's best friends. Jim was tall, he was a childhood friend of Henry's. They all were exiceted about going to war. They started marching. After a few days Henry realized that they were going around in circles. They just continued marching without a reason. During this time Henry starts to think differently about war. He becomes scared about running away from a battle. Lieutenant Hasbrouck, a young lieutenant of Henry's regiment was an extremely brave man. He, unlike the other officers, cared about and defended his troops performance, and made sure that they got the recognition they deserved. He was a true leader and Henry and John wanted to be just like him. After a while, they finally discover a battle taking place. Jim gives Henry a yellow envelope with a packet inside. He is sure that he will die, and says that this will be his first and last battle. The troops manage to hold off the rebels during the first attack, but the rebels came back again and again with more reinforcements driving the soldiers back. Henry becomes scared, confuse, and goes into a trance when he sees his forces backing down. He finally gets up and starts to run like a "chicken", who has lost the direction of safety. After he has run away he starts to think about his actions. At first he thinks of himself as a coward for running, and later he feels that he was just saving himself for later. He thinks nature does not want him to die, eventhough his side was losing. He believed he was intelligent to run, and