Henry Fleming's Psychological Transformations in Stephen Crane's 'The Red Badge of Courage'

As a new recruit, Henry has experienced many psychological transformations during this period of time, to where his true cowardliness is expressed. His romantic illusions are gradually shattered, and he begins to fear for the coming battles. Before the first battle, the newly recruit must grapple with a profound question regarding his courage: will he, when faced with the enemy and the possibility of imminent, painful death, stand tall and fight or retreat in shame, “Gradually a little panic-fear grew in his mind...He jumps up and questions himself loudly. ‘Good Lord, what’s the matter with me’' (Crane p.12). The great dilemma that Henry is in at that moment is more a matter of trusting himself as to what he’s about to confront. “Previously he had never felt obliged to wrestle too seriously with this question. In his life he had taken certain things for granted, never challenging his belief in ultimate success, and bothering little about means and roads. But here he was confronted with a thing of moment. It had suddenly appeared to him that perhaps in a battle he might run. He was forced to admit that as far as the war was concerned he knew nothing of himself' (Crane p.7). Henry continually grapples with this question until he is truly face to face with the enemy. Henry must learn to understand himself as a soldier, not just as a man. “Whatever he had learned of himself was here of no avail. He was an unknown quantity' (Crane p.12). Henry here begins to see the difference between his expectations of war and the realities of it. He wishes not to be in a situation of life or death. “He had never wished to join the war. He had not enlisted out of his free will. He had been dragged by the merciless government' (Crane p.26). Here Henry starts to blame others that it wasn’t his choice of investing. He get fixated on the idea that he was forced to join.

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Later on in the story, Henry regrets his spontaneous decision to run and eventually rejoins his squadron, the 304th. Henry’s experience of escaping from the battlefield and returning to his regiment causes him to become mature. Henry seems to become a trustworthy and brave soldier. He finally starts to change when he once again encounters his fellow soldier Wilson, who had given Henry some letters to deliver to his family in case Wilson didn't make it. It isn’t until the next battle that we really see a change in Henry. Henry goes on and is labeled as a 'war beast', as he ran towards the enemy like a wild animal. At this point all of his fear is out the door, instead he had blind hatred towards the enemy. He seemed to have fallen in such a trance that as the enemy retreated he continued to fire, “For a time the youth was obliged to reflect in a puzzled and uncertain way. His mind was undergoing a subtle change. It took moments for it to cast off its battleful ways and resume its accustomed course of thought. Gradually his brain emerged from the clogged clouds, and at last he was enabled to more closely comprehend himself and circumstance' (Crane p.25). The only way Henry can participate fully in war is to lose his own identity and individuality first. “His self-pride was now entirely restored. In the shade of its flourishing growth he stood with braced and self-confident legs, and since nothing could now be discovered he did not shrink from an encounter with the eyes of judges, and allowed no thoughts of his own to keep him from an attitude of mindfulness. He had performed his mistakes in the dark, so he was still a man' (Crane p. 88). Henry’s cowardness was put behind him, he knows it’s still there. All that lead up to him getting his courage back he still sees himself as a man.

At the end of the story Henry’s attitude changes once more. He comes to more of an understanding as to what his position is and what he’s meant to do. He succeeds this perfectly, he learns not to boast in it and make himself look like the hero but the whole squadron look like the hero. “He became not a man but a member. He felt that something of which he was a part -a regiment, an army, a cause, or a country -was in a crisis. He was welded into a common personality which was dominated by a single desire' (Crane p. 88). He was part of this 'common personality', a part of a 'subtle battle brotherhood' and a ‘mysterious fraternity born of the smoke and danger of death’ (Crane p. 30). He understands that he can do very little as one man; rather, the entire regiment acts as one and either wins or loses, succeeds or fails. This is where he turns from a kid to a young adult or a ‘man’.