At the beginning of the book, Henry acts very much like an individual. Before enlisting in the army, he had to decide for himself whether or not he was going to join the conflict. His mother was opposed to Henry joining the war and tried to convince him to stay but after Henry joined, his mother told him to be good and stay away from bad people. Henry’s mother was afraid that he would lose his own identity and become just a part of the large Union army going to war. During Henry’s first taste of combat he felt uplifted by the countless amounts of men in his regiment and in the army as a whole. In this battle, Henry felt like he was a part of something greater than himself. In addition, he was amazed at the discipline of another regiment as they walked through a dense forest and managed to keep their ranks. Henry wished to be a part of something greater than himself and that was a main reason for why he enlisted but in his first battle he fled for fear of his own life. Following his cowardly actions, Henry was ashamed of himself and even felt envious of the men who stayed in their lines and received red badges of courage. On his own, and searching for his regiment, Henry wished he was able to forget about some of his individualistic values and to truly be apart of the army. In the last battle of the book, Henry charges through a field toward an enemy shooting at him. After his regiment’s Color Sargent is killed, Henry picks up the flag and carries it while helping to lead his regiment to victory. While the story followed only one man, it was really about an army, and more specifically, about how many individuals can work together and contribute something greater than any one person.