The Red Badge of Courage
By Stephen Crane
Main Conflict
Henry doesn't know if he has the courage to become a war hero. He is afraid that he will be a coward and run.
Characters
Henry- a youth who went to war to see if he was brave enough to become a hero.
Setting
America, civil war zone
Henry leaves for war
Henry leaves for war (page 4).
He signs up because he wants to be a hero.
Henry runs away
Henry learns about the difficulties of battle field, and discovers it is harder than he thinks. He runs away from the first battle (page 37-45).
Henry isn't sure that he will have enough courage to be a hero.
Henry returns
Henry decides to return to the battlefield and he realizes that his regiment has won. He wishes that he would have stayed to help (page 41).
Henry feels ashamed that he ran away and let his regiment defeat the others by themselves.
Henry becomes colorguard
During a battle Henry notices the color guard get injured and fall. He rushes over there and picks up the flag. He then rushes into the battle field, confidently holding the flag up the whole time (page 101).
Henry discovers that he was able to be brave and confident while carrying the flag.
He is awarded
Henry is complimented for carrying the flag so well and becomes a hero for being able to keep the flag up (page 110-111).
Henry was able to represent his country and he did it very well. He became a hero by holding the flag up when everyone else was fighting.