Red Badge Of Courage Paper -- essays research papers

During the Civil War, a Union regiment rests along a riverbank, where they have been camped for weeks. The tall soldier Jim Conklin spreads a rumor that the army will soon march. Jim is a man who is very sure of himself and his own opinions. Henry Fleming, a recent recruit with the 304th regiment, worries about his courage, thinking that if he were ever to see a battle, he might run. Henry joined the army because he was drawn to the glory of military conflict, but since he joined, all the army has done is wait.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  At last the regiment is given the orders to march, and the soldiers spend several wearying days traveling on foot. Eventually they near a battlefield, and they begin to hear the distant roar of battle. After taking their positions, they were charged by the enemy; Henry, boxed in by his fellow soldiers, realizes that he could not run even if he wanted to. He fires mechanically, feeling like a gear in a huge machine. The blue regiment defeated the gray soldiers, and then men congratulate one another. Henry wakes from a brief nap to find that the men are being charged again. This time, terror overtakes him, and he leaps up and flees from the line. As he dodges through the landscape, he tells himself that he did the right ting to flee, that his regiment could not have won, and the men who remained to fight were fools. But he passes a general on horseback, and overhears the commander saying that the men have held back the enemy charge. Feelin...