The Growth and Development of the Individual as Presented in Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage

In examining The Red Badge of Courage, one must realize that the majority of the story takes place upon a single battlefield. In respect to this, in order to determine Crane’s meaning behind writing The Red Badge of Courage, we must look at the grand events of the battlefield. The novel follows the actions and emotions of Henry Fleming, a young man who has left his home in upstate New York and joined the glorious Union Army.

The novel begins with a look at Henry’s regiment, the 304th. They have been camped by the same river for several months and Henry is getting nervous. He is beginning to doubt himself and whether or not he has the courage necessary to face battle. Henry worries about the ridicule that will be poured down upon him if he runs. “He told himself that he was not formed for a soldier. And he mused seriously upon the radical differences between himself and the men who were dodging implike around the fires” (Crane 18).

Henry’s regiment finally moves out to the battle. They are initially put into a reserve position, but they eventually repel a Confederate force. Henry is satisfied with his actions and considers himself to now be a veteran. Yet the enemy charges again, and Henry flees in his belief that his regiment will be overrun. This sends Henry on a day-long journey in which he reproaches himself for running and calls himself a coward, yet tries to justify himself at the same time. He joins a line of wounded headed, in which he discovers Jim Conklin, his friend from home. He and another man, referred to as the “tattered man”, tend to Jim until he dies in a field. The tattered man repeatedly asks Henry questions about where he was hit. Henry becomes ashamed and embarrassed and leaves the helpless man to die in the field, something which later haunts Henry.

After leaving the tattered soldier, Henry encounters a regiment fleeing the battle. When he attempts to ask one of the men what is happening, the man strikes Henry on the head with his rifle. Injured by his own comrades, Henry stumbles about until a friend helps him to his regiment. Henry is met by Wilson, who has obviously grown and matured beyond his former self. Henry is very jealous of his new friend, showing his own subsequent lack of such maturation.

The next day the battle continues, and Henry’s regiment is ordered to defend a stretch of woods. Henry fights so hard and courageously that both his comrades and his commanders look up to him. After the battle, Henry and Wilson overhear a commander saying that their regiment fights poorly. This angers Henry and during his regiment’s first charge, Henry grabs the flag before it falls. Even though the charge fails, when the confederates decide to charge in return, Henry’s regiment drives them back and overtakes them, capturing their flag. Henry and Wilson are the heroes of the battle.

At the end of the novel, Henry has gone through many changes. He began as a young, frightened boy and gradually he has come to “[feel] a quiet manhood, nonassertive but sturdy and strong of blood…he knew that he would no more quail before his guides wherever they should point…he had been to touch the great death, and found that, after all, it was but a great death. He was a man.” (Crane 134).