red badge of courage (summary)
...t about the success of the new regiment. Wilson is acts very confident, and boasts of how well he will fight. After a few days of marching, Henry realizes that they have been wandering about in circles. They continue to march with out a purpose, direction, or fighting. During this time Henry starts to think diffrently about war. He starts to lose some of his ideals of war, and starts to become scared of running away from a battle. After a while the regiment finally discovers a battle taking place. Jim gives Henry a yellow envelope with a packet inside. He is confident that he will die, and says that this will be his first and last battle. The regiment manages to hold off the rebels during the first attack, but the rebels came back again and again with reinforcements driving the soldiers back. Henry becomes scared, confused, and goes into a trance when he sees his forces dieing of. He finally gets up and starts to run like a "proverbial chicken", who has lost the direction of safety. After he has run away he starts to anaylze himself and rationalize his actions. At first he thinks himself a a coward for running, and later he feels he was just saving himself for later. He thinks nature does not want him to die, eventhough his side was losing. He believes he was intelligent to run, and hopes he will die in battle to spite. Henry, still running, is met by a "tattered soldier" and he comes upon Jim who has been wounded badly. He does not complain about his pain, but asks Henry to move him out the road so he is not run over by artillery wagons. Even in his agony, he is concered about Henry and asks how he is faring. As his death grew nearer, Jim runs into a field looking for a suitable place to die. He ignores Henry's offers of help, and as his body jerked horribly, he falls and dies. The only other witness to his death, "the tattered soldier", is impressed mostly by Jim's bravery and courage. The tattered soldier appears to be a simple and innocent man. Though he is very simplistic and unsophisticated, he is a brave, kind, and responsible man. Henry walks away hurting inside and dangerous to himself. In the charge ahead Henry asks fleeing soldiers why they are running. He grabs a comrad and asked "why why" all the while holding his arm. The man struggling to be let go, hits Henry over the head with the butt of his rifle, thus giving Henry his first Red Badge of Courage. Henry stumbles across the battl...