From Coward to Courageous Essay Sample
What defines a soldier? Do we specify him by the manner he runs through the battleground. oppressing his opposition. or how he finds himself taking the charge against a great. war machine? Does a hero redeem the hope of his regiment and maintain combat until his decease? In Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage we see Henry Fleming. the supporter of the novel. do himself into a soldier. In the first few pages. Crane portrays Fleming as a naive immature adult male desiring to travel into conflict entirely for acknowledgment. However. as the fresh progresses we notice Fleming alteration from that naive. cowardly. immature adult male into a brave soldier.
At first. Fleming does non understand what war can make to him. Fleming enjoys a sense of pride for fall ining the Confederate Army. blind to the true horrors of war. . “… They had thronged about him with admiration and esteem. He had felt the gulf now between them and had swelled with unagitated pride. ” ( 9 ) Fleming merely focuses on others admiting his alleged courage even though he feels diffident if he can defy a individual conflict. As Fleming battles in his first conflict. his pride dissipates and turns into fright. “He ran like a unsighted adult male. Two or three times he fell down. ” ( 44 ) Fleming morphs from a adult male who fills himself with ego to one who deflates with cowardliness.
As the novel progresses. Fleming alterations from a adult male who flees from conflicts. to one who remains until the enemy retreats. “Once he. in his purpose hatred. was about entirely and was firing. when all those near him had ceased. He was so engrossed in his business that he was non cognizant of a letup. ” ( 100 ) Fleming no longer cowers in conflict. but battles when all others cease. Fleming does non allow his fright overpower him. but alternatively channels that fear into the conflict. No longer does Fleming fear the enemy but the enemy may in fact fear him.
Last. we see Fleming transform from a cog in the military machine into the leader of his regiment’s charge. Fleming puts his life on the line for his regiment. During a conflict. the colour sergeant. the carrier of the flag. gets changeable and killed. Both Fleming and Wilson haste towards the flag. desiring to show their selfless leadership“ ‘Give it t’ me! ’ ‘No. allow me maintain it! ’ Each felt satisfied with the other’s ownership of it. but each felt edge to declare. by an offer to transport the emblem. his willingness to farther hazard himself. ” ( 112 ) Fleming gustos steering his regiment towards devastation of the enemy even as they risk all of their lives.
The supporter of Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage. Henry Fleming. alterations from a meek. naive. cowardly soldier into a relentless combatant. Originally. Fleming has so much artlessness. He does non understand what warfare can make to a adult male. nor how it can impact him. During his first conflict. Fleming seems scared and unprepared and finally finds himself sprinting from the conflict field like a unsighted adult male. Slowly. Fleming develops into a soldier. He fights with passion and intense hatred. starting unit of ammunition after unit of ammunition into fume and continues to contend even in arrant silence. Finally. we see Fleming develop into a brave soldier. He takes the flag from a dead adult males custodies. and leads his regiment farther into conflict. even though slugs fly past him he continues to bear down. when in the beginning of the novel he would hold fled. Fleming proves that he no longer serves as a fearful male child. merely desiring acknowledgment for merely enlisting. but into a genuinely courageous soldier who puts his regiment before himself.
