The Red Badge of Courage entails the journey of a young Union soldier in the Civil War. In this book the main character Henry Fleming seeks to become a hero during the war. Although Henry is a young inexperienced soldier he wants to prove courageous in the face of his fear. However, as the reader travels with Henry on his journey it becomes apparent that he is initially a coward. For instance, once the Union army first encountered the enemy Henry gets scared and runs for the hills. Afterwards he attempts to justify his decision and claims it was a natural instinct of survival to run away. However, after fleeing the battlefield Henry is immensely filled with guilt. Henry feels that he cannot be a real man without proving his valor on the battlefield.
Masculinity and courage are two intertwined themes that dictate Henry Flemings career in the army. After witnessing the horrors of war Henry eventually changes his mentality and decides to fight back. The combination of guilt and emasculation helped Henry transform himself into the soldier he initially wanted to be. When the battle was over Henry reflects that he has become a man who has survived the horrors of war.
In The Red Badge of Courage Stephen Crane explores the psychological battles during war and shows the reality of war. The novel follows the emotional trajectory of Henry Fleming as he strains to cope with guilt. Crane reveals a realistic look at war with shows the horror, boredom, and injustice of war. This portrayal is so graphic that this book is considered as anti-war.
Throughout the novel you see masculinity is being a defining reason why Henry decides to enlist in the first place. Rather than out of a sense of patriotic duty, Henry enlists so he cannot be ridiculed by his neighbors and so that he might be able to capture his manhood through combat.
Henry’s concerns about how he will react to battle reflect his desires to be a man. This struggle is reflected by Crane constantly referring to him as a youth while he is in the most intense environment imaginable. This book is not only an insight to life as a soldier during the civil war, it is also a coming of age story.
I agree with you on the fact that masculinity and courage being intertwining themes. We see in the story that these two themes don’t act individually. In order to be seen as masculine you must have courage.
What I fond particularly interesting about Crane’s portrayal of courage and masculinity was that there were negatives that came along with Henry becoming a more “courageous” and “masculine” man. As he appeared to be leaving boyhood behind him, he began to also appear a bit ruder, more bold and even less human-like. He gains courage and becomes a man, but at what cost? He rationalizes his abandoning his role during his first battle by reassuring himself that it was a natural instinct, that any human/animal would do in the face of death. As Henry grows bolder, this flight response that was so natural to him disappears, which I see as Crane showing that war is unnatural.
In addition to being about masculinity, the book is also about fitting into a group. At the beginning of his enlistment, Henry is a coward in the eyes of his regiment and he also envies the injured men who have the red badge of courage. In his first battle, Henry did not seem to fit well into his regiment yet as he showed cowardice. After he proved to his fellow servicemen that he could survive and fight in a battle he acquired their respect and found a place in the regiment among the other survivors.
I agree that guilt and emasculation helped change Henry from a coward into a hero. He was weak and felt great remorse for fleeing from his comrades. He couldn’t escape the guilt because he kept running into injured soldiers so he decided he had to face it. He is lucky that he was given another opportunity to be the soldier he wanted to be after deserting the first battle.
While there are several anti-war messages throughout The Red Badge of Courage, I think that the idea of becoming a man through war is not one of them. In fact, this message, as well as the ending that shows Henry growing as a person because of the conflict might counteract the anti-war message.