The Red Badge of Courage
by Stephen Crane
Main Conflict
Henry (the Youth), wants to have a war story but he flees during battles because his nerves get the best of him so he builds up courage and eventually becomes a hero and holds the flag in battle.
Event One (beginning)
Event One of The Red Badge of Courage is when Henry signs up for the war. This goes with the main conflict because Henry wants a story (or a war story) to tell others, give him publicity. His mother hadn't wanted him to enlist in battle for years, but this year Henry decided to do it thinking it will be fun and give him lots of publicity (chapter one, pg. 1-5).
Event Two (beginning)
Event two of this book is during the first battle. This goes along with the main conflict because of how Henry reacts to the starts of the war/battle. What Henry does is he flees. The war creeps Henry out so much, that he runs into a different area and stays until the battle is over. Henry wanted a war story, but how are you going to get a war story if you flee from battles? You aren't. So this goes along with the conflict because it shows that Henry has to change his whole viewpoint and work really hard for his story (chapter 5, pg. 30-34) and (chapter 6, pg. 36-37).
Event Three (middle)
What happens in event three is Henry getting hit with the butt of the gun. Everyone in his regiment thought that he had been grazed in the back of the head, not get hit with the butt of the gun. He went along with this because he wanted to take it as his war story, even though it wasn't the truth. That is why it goes with the main conflict (chapter 12, pg. 65-66).
Event Four (middle)
Event four of he book is when Henry starts shooting into nothingness. Henry thought he had seen figures coming out of the fog and starts shooting at them. People from his regiment come around and watch until Henry finally stops. This goes along with the conflict because it shows how caught up in the war Henry gets. His nerves get the best of him, he gets paranoid, and he starts shooting at nothing (chapter 17, pg. 89-91).
Event Five (end)
This event comes from the last battle. In the last battle, the flag-bearer goes down. Henry takes the flag and leads his regiment in battle. Henry finally, after such a long time, gets what he had been wanting, a war story. This relates to the conflict because all this time, Henry had been doing anything possible, even lying to his friends, to get a war story. This is the resolution. The fix, after all of the hard work. Basically, the conflict gets resolved by Henry carrying the flag and having a war story after all (chapter 21, pg. 109-111).
Henry
Henry is a Union soldier who wants a war story. He is called "the youth" because he is younger than some of the others. At first he acts like the army is all fun and games and not difficult at all. But after the first battle, his views change. He is full of doubt all throughout the beginning and middle of the novel, but as we keep reading, Henry sets aside his fears to support his side. His courage builds and he ends up being a hero (somewhat, he carries the flag!).
Wilson
Wilson is referred to as the loud soldier sometimes in the book. He is Henry's friend. He tended to his head wound, and even changed from a grumpy soldier to a nice soldier. He gives a packet of letters to Henry to send home in case of his death, but Henry happens to keep them to himself.
Jim
Jim is also a Union soldier. We do not learn an extreme amount of information about Jim because he died in battle towards the middle of the book. This is very bad news to Henry because he liked Jim and he looked up to him.
Primary Setting
The primary setting of The Red Badge of Courage is a civil war battlefield/regiment base camp in 1861-1865.