Character Analysis Of Henry In The Red Badge Of Courage By Stephen Crane

“The youth of this tale felt gratitude for these words of his comrade. He had feared that all of the untried men possessed great and correct confidence. He now was in a measure reassured” (Crane 1.73). The setting is during the Civil War during the Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia, over four days in May of 1863, author is Stephen Crane, the book is the red badge of courage and is about a 16 year old boy that goes into the war for his country and turns out to do very heroic things to win several battles. Many readers have a debate on if Henry is heroic or a coward and after i have read the book i believe that henry is heroic. Henry shows that he is heroic by when he doesn't run away from the battles anymore, when he saves both flags, and when he matures.
The first time henry shows that he is heroic is when Henry stops running away from the battles and start fighting in them. This shows when Henry and Wilson are marching alongside one another and Wilson reminds henry of the letters that wilson gave henry, Henry begins to think bigger about himself and gets more confidence so when they get into the next battle Henry actually stays and fights and doesn't run away. The second time is when they are in battle and Henry’s animal like self comes out
This viewpoint is wrong because even though Henry showed that he was a coward in the beginning but after all he became a hero because he finally fought in a battle and saved the flags to win two battles and that is pretty heroic if you ask me. “His emotions made him feel strange in the presence of men who talked excitedly of a prospective battle as of a drama they were about to witness, with nothing but eagerness and curiosity apparent in their faces. It was often that he suspected them to be liars” (Crane