The Red Badge of Courage

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane is the story of a young soldier in the Union Army exposed to war for the first time, and his transformation from a young boy eager for battle to a battle-hardened soldier. This story mainly takes place during a battle in the Civil War. Private Henry Flemming joins the Army after dreaming of fighting in battles his entire life, but during his first battle he becomes terrified and runs away. The rest of the story is about him trying to face his fear and prove himself in battle.

The main character in this novel is Private Henry Flemming, a young man born in the North who "dreamed of battles all his life" (4) and enlisted in the Union Army against the advice of his mother. Early in the novel, Flemming is intelligent, idealistic, logical, selfish, and lacks confidence in himself. You can see Flemming's lack of confidence when he says "It had suddenly appeared to him that in a battle he might run" (10) and on page 16 when he admits "he usually admitted in secret the superior development of the higher qualities in others." He is primarily motivated by a desire for honor and glory achieved in battle and is also motivated by a fear of not being brave enough in his first battle. By the end of the novel the Flemming has changed greatly, he no longer lacks confidence in his abilities, isn't motivated by a desire for glory and honor, and is no longer fearful of running and instead tries to instill courage in the other soldiers. On page 152 he shows his courage when he "walked stolidly into the midst of the mob, and with his flag in his hands took a stand as if he expected an attempt to push him to the ground. He unconsciously assumed the attitude of the color bearer in the fight of the preceding day."

The story begins with Flemming looking back on when he joined the army after hearing that they would be fighting the next day; after contemplating whether he would run from a battle or not he learns that they won't be fighting the next day and yearns for the chance to learn if he is a coward or a man. After a time of much thought, boredom and many false rumors about when they will fight, the army begins marching. As they march and get closer to the sounds of battle, Flemming regards the coming battle with both worry and excitement: he now has his chance to learn who he really is, but he isn't sure whether he wants to know. When the rebels charge Flemming is able to stand firm but when they charge a second time Flemming runs, thinking there is no way that they can hold their position. As he runs he tries to justify his reactions by telling himself that if he stayed he would have died, and that he was doing the best thing for the army by running away. After overhearing that the line had held, he feels betrayed by his comrades and flees farther into the forest until encountering a rotting corpse. He backs away from the corpse and then decides to go towards the battle. On the way back to the battle he comes upon a camp for the wounded and meets a wounded man who tries to make conversation with him; then he asks Flemming where he is hit and Flemming leaves him. After leaving the wounded man, Flemming finds Jim Conklin, who is severely wounded. As he tries to help Conklin the wounded man he met before comes to help him. Soon after the wounded man arrives Jim dies and Flemming and the wounded man walk together. As they walk the wounded man keeps asking Flemming about his injury, until Flemming becomes so annoyed he left the wounded man to die. After abandoning the wounded man, Flemming heads towards the battle again.

Eventually he sees a group of Union soldiers retreating and while trying to ask them what has happened he is hit on the head by a soldier. After being hit on the head he meets a man who helps him to find his regiment. After finding his regiment, Flemming is cared for by his friend Wilson, who believes that Flemming must have been grazed by a bullet. Fueled by rage, Flemming fights hard in the next battle and is recognized by the lieutenant as being a fierce fighter. After going to find a stream Flemming and Wilson overhear the general and an officer say that their regiment fight likes mule drivers and orders them to charge an enemy position. Both Flemming and his friend fight bravely in the battle and their regiment is able to overcome the position. After being recognized by the Colonel they are in another battle when they realize that the only way to succeed is to charge; they charge and Flemming takes the enemy colors. As he reflects on his past actions he is haunted by his visions of abandoning the wounded man but he realizes that is all in the past and he looks forward to the rest of his life.

I think the theme of this novel is that each person as an individual is insignificant but when part of a group can make great gains. On page 137 it says "New eyes were given to him. And the most startling thing was to learn suddenly that he was very insignificant. The officer spoke of the regiment as if he referred to a broom."
I both agree and disagree with this theme. In 1 Corinthians 12:12 it says "The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ." I agree with this theme because this verse is saying that no part of the body is more important than another part but God can still use individual parts to do great things and no one is insignificant to God.

Sources:
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane.
The Holy Bible.