"The
Red Badge of Courage" is an 1895 war novel by Stephen Crane. It is set during the American Civil War, and like any war,
it has frightening realities and devastating effect on the soldiers.
The story revolves around
Henry Fleming, a teenager who enlists with the Union Army to fulfil his dreams of glory. Soon after, he realizes that everything is not glory. He has to wait for the actual battle to happen and when he finally engages in his first battle, without seeing the enemy, he blindly fires into the battle haze. As the next enemy approaches to assault, Henry is overpowered by fear that he runs away. He continues his retreat for some time. After having slowed down and having rested, he finds a renewed courage and somehow returns to the scene of the battle from where he fled.
He finds many wounded men who have returned from the front getting some medical help. One of these wounded soldiers befriends Henry. However, when the soldier asks him where he is wounded, Henry dodges the question by leaving the wounded soldier. Henry then drifts to the crowd of soldiers.
As he mixes with the wounded, he meets Jim Conklin, a veteran soldier of his company. When Jim collapses and dies, Henry is devastated. Eventually he again meets the first wounded soldier who asks him about his wound. As usual, he cannot explain why he has no wound, and again, leaves the wounded soldier stumbling.
Henry has difficulty overcoming the guilt that stops him from returning to his own regiment. Soon, he watches the battle turn against his Union forces so that many of the men are beginning to retreat. As Henry tries to find out from one soldier what is happening, the soldier, weary and just wanting to get away, hits Henry over his head with a rifle that makes him seriously wounded.
Dazed by his painful wound, Henry is befriended by a soldier who returns him to his regiment. He feared that be might be ridiculed by his regiment, but when two soldiers, Wilson and Simpson, notice his head injury, they immediately take care of him, with the assumption that he is hurt in the battle. However, when Simpson asks him about his wound, as usual, he cannot answer.
As the regiment prepares to move out, Wilson, fearing that he might die in battle, asks Henry to return a packet of letters that he gave him before the first battle. Wilson wanted Henry to give the letters to his family should he die. The act of Wilson and the trust given to him restored Henry's courage and confidence.
With his transformation, Henry becomes a leader, who has learned to fight at the side of his lieutenant. He also resolves his guilt over abandoning the wounded soldiers in the past. He thinks of these as a buffer to remind him that he should make the best of his fighting ability. When Henry’s regiment is chosen to charge the enemy, he leads the charge. Eventually, he assumes the role of color bearer for the regiment after the color sergeant is killed.
"The
Red Badge of Courage" is the story of a young man's development from innocence to maturity. Its essence is Henry Fleming's transformation from a lost and fearful youth, to a confident and courageous soldier.