Henry had “long despaired of witnessing a Greek-like struggle” (Crane, 3). His motivation to fight comes from his will to become a hero. He believes that he will do great things on the battlefield because that is his destiny, and hopes to gain recognition for his achievements. When he tells his mother that he will be going to war, she doubts his motivation and encourages him to keep clean socks (Crane,5)! Clearly, she was treating him like a child, not a man.
Finny realized that the injury to his leg was not going to be temporary but permanent in many ways. This injury prevented him from enlisting in the army. Finny was in denial about the war all the way up to the point in the novel when he saw that Lepper really had gone crazy. Finny believed that there was really a war from that point on because his theory was; it takes a war to make a man crazy. Gene had many aspects of the war to deal with in addition to his emotional stress.
It is a whole different experience reading Crane's book compared to other war stories. Crane shows the world that war is not something you want. War does not make you a hero, in fact sometimes it can do the opposite. The war shows the men in the story who they truly are in times of peril and Henry soon learns he's not the brave heroic hero he once thought he was. When the enemy came the first thing Henry did was run and he never let himself hear the end of it.
The entire reason Henry Fleming joined the army was to become a hero. He was completely blind to the Union’s cause as a whole and was looking more for personal achievement and well-being. This is depicted in the quote “his province was to look out, as far as he could, for his personal comfort.” Henry’s plans of heroism and bravery are cut short when his regiment does not enter actual combat, but rather continues to hear news and rumors of upcoming battle. During this time, Henry has a lot of time on his hands and does some serious thinking. He begins to feel uncomfortable and wishes he were back home with his mother on their farm.
When asked by the doubtful Henry on "fighting or flying" in the face of danger, Wilson smugly replied with, '"Run?...run?-of course not!"' Later in the story, before they entered the first battle, Wilson became grim, suddenly unsure of the battle's outcome and the effect it would impose on the regiment. From here on, though the reader is spared of any more detail in pertanence to Wilson (momentarily suggesting his death, as we only see the story in the view of Henry), until Wilson is met up by Henry in the Union camp, seemingly with a softer and more humbled attitude (pg 90). Wilson is the representation of maturation from outspoken, rude, and self-centered to helpful, humble, and unfazed by the ... ... middle of paper ... ...cond battle, he runs from his regiment -somehthing which he is later ashamed of, but not wrong for. Through a series of events, Henry is made to comprehend that there is no justice in war: the good will die, nature will not shed a tear for the lost and chaneges have to be made in order to prevail.
As the book goes on and Henry matures, the color yellow is not mentioned as often. The color yellow appears in the first chapter when Henry’s mother states that enlisting is a bad idea. He feels his mother’s words were putting a “yellow light upon the color of his ambitions.” This is a significant statement because at this point in the book, Henry’s cowardice has not yet emerged and his only visions of battle are of him becoming a brave, heroic soldier. Henry’s feelings switch from confidence to cowardice as he runs away from his very first battle. When he looks back at the battlefield with shame, he can see nothing but yellow fog.
Henry’s mother shows that she will dignify his decisions, “She had then covered her face with the quilt. There was an end to the matter for that night.” (Crane 5). For Henry’s sake of becoming a man and increasing his self-image, his mother puts her worries aside and lets him go to war. Therefore, Henry, with his decisions of war continues to lack knowledge of reality. His adolescent mind cannot comprehend the horrific scenes of battle, in preparation, he must increase his life visually before he is encouraged to fight for his country.
Henry thinks very poorly of himself at this point and really anyone would run from a war, I don't think he was ready. The second time Henry's flaw is evident is in chapter 12 when Henry tries to stop a man to ask what is going on with the battle since he ran away. The man was also trying to get away and hit Henry on the head with his rifle. This is evidence of his flaw because if he hadn't run away then he wouldn't have to bother this man. Henry is also too afraid to go back without any knowledge of what happened.
It is only achievable through death, and it is useless to the dead. Therefore, in the upcoming battle Falstaff will not, as characters in heroic plays had done for centuries, sacrifice himself for love of country. He will instead look out for his own self interest, and attempt to earn acclaim from the actions of others. However, this does not make his character a
Because, when facing the cold fact that his warrior lifestyle was not going to save him from death, he has no other choice to but to attempt to preserve his life for his family. Old habits die hard and he is tricked by Athena to fight (Homer XXII. 245-253) When she uses his