In the novel The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane, the main character, Henry Flemming, may be regarded as a person that exhibits courage and heroism by the end of the story. There are multiple examples that show Henry's courageousness and heroic tendencies from chapter seventeen to the end in the novel. .
First of all, what is courage and heroism? A courageous person can be characterized as one who displays grace under pressure, is not timid, is not afraid of being themselves despite what others will say or think, and someone who exhibits bravery. A hero can be characterized as someone who does not back down from anything, is willing to risk themselves for others, displays honor, and is unselfish. In the last chapters of the novel, Henry Flemming displays almost all of these characteristics. The only one that is not apparent is the attribute of not being afraid to be yourself despite what others will say or think. .
Henry proves some of these traits in chapter seventeen, when the blue army was preparing for battle; Henry was overcome by a sudden and fiery hatred for the charging enemy. This hatred is so fierce that Henry starts shooting his rifle, and reloading in quick succession and repeats this for quite a while until he hears some of his comrades laughing at him, then he realizes that he has been firing long after the enemy has already retreated and is well out of range. A lieutenant calls Henry a "wildcat" for his recent outburst of hate and rage, and compliments Henry by saying that if he had ten thousand soldiers like Henry, he would win the war in a week. This action justifies Henry as courageous and heroic because it can be seen that Henry is not being timid, his actions are definitely not seen as procedures that a person that was scared would do. Henry exhibits the trait of not backing down; he was still shooting, even though the enemy was well out of range.
