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Character transformation of Henry Fleming Stephen Crane’s ‘The red badge of courage’ is a novel that revolves around the character development of Henry Fleming who is the main character in the book. The novel documents his maturity and growth as a union army soldier, through the changes in behavior and personality. During the transition, his emotions run the complete range of his behavior and character from glory towards fear towards depression, then to anger, then to exhilaration back to courage and then lastly to honor (Crane, 202). This behavior and personality change from his innocence to his experience and in essence from his moments of doubt to those of duty. The maturing process of Henry takes place very fast. In a span of a couple of days, this character experiences a worth of growth of lifetime. This starts from his enlisting for reasons of the glory of self-centeredness, to his exhilaration in the first battle, towards his running away during the second battle fearing he would get killed and finally towards his facing the enemies and leading the other soldiers to charge against them (Crane, 164). He finally becomes one among the bravest soldiers during the times. Some examples from the book illuminate these changes which happen in his character and how they relate to the themes of duty and doubt. Henry Fleming’s confidence, that which relates to his understanding of duty, but that is also based on his curiosity of the youth is seen early in the book as the novel is introduced. He is very confident that the war would bring untold glory in him. This confidence cannot be shaken by anybody including the impregnable concerns of his mother (Crane, 4). He thus goes ahead to enlist in the war as per his plans and against her wishes. Some short moment after enlisting, he experiences long moments of waiting that were tedious and not the immediate glory as he saw it initially. The more he had to wait, the more fear and doubt crept in his mind (Crane, 8). This is a good show of realism in the novel in that soldiers have fear of death regardless of the idealistic brave figure in a soldier. when instincts make Henry flee the battlefield, it is a show of naturalism in literature. Towards in-depth of chapter two of Stephen’s book, the focus in the character development of Henry, however, moves much faster to his fears and doubts of the war as his regiment nears the battlefield. Thoughts in his mind jump from his longing to go back home, to monster images that are very conjuring, trying to describe occurrences that are very common (Crane, 17). This fear and doubt almost consume him, and they haunt him as he continued reacting to the battle environment that involved both the people and the environment. He gets to some point when Henry that this intense fear develops so significantly, that he came to a conclusion that it was a better option if he died directly to stop the troubles forever. He blindly makes fire into the haze of the battle when he cannot see the enemy. However, as the next enemy assault approaches him, he has the intense fear of dying that he has to flee the battlefield. This aspect of fear supports crane’s use or realism in literature. When he and the other comrade soldiers finally get engaged in the battle, he faces the opponents by repeatedly firing, leading to the full repulsion of the enemy’s charge. Through this, he can overcome some reasonable amount of the fears he had before as his confidence gets charged when working with the other soldiers in the regiment holding the battle line. Through the support of fellow soldiers, Fleming stands firm making some brave movements towards the moment of maturity and confidence. However, this newfound confidence in Henry does not last for long. The mere realities of the battle intervene the in the war and make his doubt and fear to surface once again. He now moves from a euphoric state after succeeding in the repulsion of the enemy’s charge before during the first battle, to that of panic when the second battle began. As the enemy charged towards them the fears in Henry took control of him such that when his fellow soldier near him dropped his riffle and took to heels, Henry reasoning ability leaves him and finds himself also running away (Crane, 118). He now abandons the brave thoughts of duty and honor and plunges himself into a state of immaturity and self-concern. During this state of disgrace, he makes attempts of rationalizing his retreat to have a better feeling. Henry flees the battle field out of fear of death that he cannot know what the other soldiers experience in the front line. When he wants to join it, he meets the wounded soldiers retreating due to the injuries they sustained at the frontline. Henry has no wound since he has been away from the serious and tough sides of the war. This self-absorption state occupies Henry Fleming for quite some good time and critical events in the book. Even when Jim Conklin dies, the death does not jar Henry out of the thoughts of his well-being. Without any moment of second thought, Henry abandons the dead comrade in the battlefield and the tattered soldier too as he had the fear that the soldier’s questions concerning his head wound, as Henry finds it hard to explain why has no wound (Crane, 59). Through this act, Henry committed an act that is despicably selfish rather than facing his lack of courage within himself. As a matter of fact, he suffers from so great a self-absorption that he is unable to join the fighting again even if he had the self-will to go back and continue the war. Henry sustained a wound in the head when he was hit with a riffle by a retreating soldier when he tries to ask him what was happening. The accidental wound in his head does not make up the ‘red badge of courage’ as Stephen tried to refer in his book or what Henry wishes to attain; rather, this becomes a shield that he has to use to protect all the lies that he formulates around him. He only begins emerging from this shell of fear and self-absorption after recognizing the weakness in Wilson in offering him a letter bunch to hold (Crane, 88). Wilson had the same fear of dying in the battle and had sent Henry with letters to offer to his family in case he was to die during the war. This fact makes Henry see some new power of holding a weapon over the head of another person. This thought has his confidence and courage restored. The fact that these characters have no control over death shows the aspect of determinism in literature. For instance, Henry cannot help Jim when he dies (Crane, 70). Death is also coming out as use of naturalism aspect in literature. The fact that Henry cannot answer the questions where people go after they die is a good example. During this strange foundation in him, Henry Fleming’s confidence in fighting battles starts taking shape once again. This newfound confidence makes him ready to face a new reality that is very tough: that being a soldier, two things are involved; he has to either get killed or kill the enemy. He is ready to convert himself to a bold soldier. He becomes a fighting machine beside his lieutenant and resolves the guilt of abandoning the dead soldier through his decision to make use of the selfish and uncaring acts’ memories and make himself humble and able to control any ego that might arise out of being a fighter with strong ability (Crane, 193). The new confidence charges anger in him towards the enemy in the battle replacing the fear and doubt that he has been forced to fight with all this while. At this moment, though not yet a war hero becomes a completely courageous, brave and confident fighter. This confidence and the will to fight again become so great that his fellow soldiers also feel encouraged. By the time Henry assumes the new role as a flag-bearer in his battle regiment, he is such an admirable symbol of courage and bravery (Crane, 123). This marks the peak of his character transformation from being a child to an adult, from an enlistee who is coward to a brave veteran of war. The transformation of Henry’s character from being a lost, fearful and doubting youth, to a confident, brave and duty-bound soldier is the full essence of the book; ‘The red badge of courage.’ It carries a story of a young man’s growth from his innocent being to that of being mature and complete. Work cited Crane, Stephen. The red badge of courage. Penguin, (2005), p. 1-208.
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Professor
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Red Badge of Courage Literary Essay
Character transformation of Henry Fleming
Stephen Crane’s ‘The red badge of courage’ is a novel that revolves around the
character development of Henry Fleming who is the main character in the book. The novel
documents his maturity and growth as a union army soldier, through the changes in behaviour
and personality. During the transition, his emotions run the complete range of his behaviour
and character from glory towards fear towards depression, then to anger, then to exhilaration
back to courage and then lastly to honor. For example, Henry portrays his courageousness when
he seized the colours of the slain Sergeant and instead of being fearful, he led the other lot of
soldiers. This behaviour and personality changed from his innocence to his experience and in
essence from his moments of doubt to those of duty.
The maturing process of Henry takes place very fast. For instance, he is able to switch
roles and lead the other soldiers in the Civil War after the sergeant was killed. In a span of a
couple of days, this character experiences a worth of growth of lifetime. This starts from his
enlisting for reasons of the glory of self-centeredness, to his exhilaration in the first battle,
towards his running away during the second battle fearing he would get killed and finally
towards his facing of the enemies and leading the other soldiers to charge against them.
According to the novel "He began to exaggerate the endurance, the skill, and the valour of
those who were coming. Himself reeling from exhaustion, he was astonished beyond measure
at such persistency. They must be machines of steel. It was very gloomy struggling against
such affairs, wound up perhaps to fight until sundown". He finally becomes one among the

Surname 2
bravest soldiers during the times. Some examples from the book illuminate these changes
which happen in his charact...


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