The Red Badge of Courage is a novel written by Stephen Crane that explores the struggles of a young man in his early experiences with war. Before the novel begins, Henry Fleming, a teenager growing up on a farm, enlists to go to war despite his lack of knowledge on the subject aside from glamorous tales. During Henry's trip to the military camp, some of his peers, especially virgin girls, praise him for his enlistment. However, this period of praise and glorification lasts only a short time before Henry is thrown into the monotonous daily routine of military training. At camp, Henry finds himself losing sight of his ideal expectations of the glory of war. This loss of belief that Henry experiences only progresses further as he begins to learn about the personalities of his fellow soldiers, who he believes most are far less intelligent and noble than he had initially expected. After Henry's regiment wins a minor battle, it finds itself under attack by the enemy, forcing Henry to break his vow to himself and flee out of fear. During his short time away from the regiment, he wanders the woods and finds a sense of calm. Henry's peace of mind is interrupted when he comes across the rotting corpse of a soldier, an event that shakes him deeply. All of these events influence Henry to the point that when he returns to his regiment and immerses himself in battle again, he undergoes a major character change in which he loses some of his selfishness and accepts that his ideologies regarding the war are not entirely accurate. Despite this eventual positive change, Henry initially experiences many negative emotions when he discovers that his expectations are false. Throughout the novel, Crane illustrates how the romanticism of war only serves to harm those people actually at war after discovering the true nature of these ideologies. This concept is expressed through Henry's reactions to the collapse of his expectations of the natural world during the war, of other soldiers, and of true courage. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The first area where Henry is proven wrong in his beliefs is his fellow soldiers. Before experiencing real war, Henry believes that the other soldiers must all be brave and morally righteous heroes. During her time in the camp, she thinks to herself that “the men were better, or more timid. Secular and religious education had erased the instinct of suffocation, or corporate finance kept passions in check. (70)” Henry is surprised when Jim tells him that he himself would run away from battle if everyone else did, having initially thought that “all inexperienced men possessed great and proper confidence” (73). At times he is even inclined to be “inclined to believe that [the other soldiers] are all heroes” (75). However, he soon begins to believe exactly the opposite; he begins to think that most of the other soldiers are fools who simply cannot understand his own intelligence. He especially despises authority figures. He is surprised when he is physically punished for falling behind by his company's lieutenant and decides: “...he hated the lieutenant, who did not appreciate excellent minds. He was a simple brute. (85)” When Henry later runs into a general from a different regiment, he feels similar indignation at what he thinks are poor decisions on the general's part, even though Henry has very little knowledge of the situation compared to the general. Henry arriveseven to think that “he would like to beat up the general, or at least go up to him and tell him in simple words exactly what he thought it was. (101)" Henry's recurring anger at authority figures who make decisions that are logical to everyone except Henry is due to Henry's initial beliefs that all other soldiers, especially those in higher positions, would always be the brilliant image of heroism. The next reality that surprises Henry is the natural world during the war: in particular, the way in which nature tends to move forward without regard for the loss of human life. Although the text does not explicitly state the original thoughts that Henry had towards nature before the war, Henry is shown to be completely angry at seeing how the natural world is untroubled by the death of his comrades. His realization of this concept begins after his regiment forces the enemy to retreat and he feels “a flash of amazement at the pure blue sky. and the sun shining on the trees and fields. Surprising that Nature should calmly continue her golden process in the midst of so much devilry. (96)” This strange reality only further manifests itself to Henry when he fearfully flees from a battle in the woods. His first experience with nature during a trip away from the war is positive: “You could hear the roar of death. It now seemed that Nature had no ears. This landscape gave him security. A fair field that hosts life. It was the religion of peace. (103)” Henry's positive outlook on the natural world doesn't last long, though. He soon encounters a “corpse dressed in a uniform that had once been blue, but had now faded to a melancholy shade of green… Small ants ran across the gray skin of his face. One was passing a sort of bundle along his upper lip. (104)” The corpse, though still wearing traces of its old uniform, possesses none of the glory that Henry so desperately seeks. Nature, as demonstrated by the ants crawling on the corpse's face, has no regard for who the human was when he was alive. This new concept surprises Henry greatly, in contrast to the idea that the entire universe revolved around human life that Henry probably believed subconsciously before this event. The last false ideology Henry believes in before going to war is the true meaning of courage. Henry initially believes that courage is relentless courage, even in situations where it might be wise to retreat. Right before he even leaves for war, he is already seeing his ideal image of courage challenged when his mother has “let him down by telling him absolutely nothing about returning with his shield or on it. (68)" However, his lack of drama does not stop Henry from being constantly haunted by the idea that being brave means never running away once he gets to war, demonstrated in the way he says he has "seen visions of a thousand -fears speech that would stammer behind his back and cause him to flee… (80)” This obsessed concept causes a great internal conflict in Henry when he finally follows his natural instinct to flee from the battle and begins to believe that fleeing was the best decision and everyone those who remained still are fools: “He walked with his head down, his brain in a tumult of agony and despair. When he looked down, trembling at every noise, his eyes had the expression of those of a criminal who considers his guilt small and his punishment great, and knows he cannot find words. (102)” Despite this growth, when Henry has the opportunity to prove himself courageous and care for a fellow soldier, he is still immature in his.