Summary and Analysis of Chapter 21-24
Chapter 21 Summary: No firing threatens the regiment as they return to their blue lines. The men are nervous as they go, suspecting that they may be fired on at anytime. When they get back to their lines, they are peppered with sarcastic questions, asking where they have been and why they are coming back. The men of the regiment make no reply, except one soldier who challenges any one of them to a fistfight. Henry is stung by these remarks. He glowers at the men who ridicule him. Then he looks back at the ground they had covered. It seems different. The grove where they had their stand is much closer; the time taken now seems short. He wonders at the amount of emotions and information crammed into such a small amount of time. Yet, he is still satisfied with his performance during the charge. He had little time to do so before, and now thinks pleasantly on the colors of the battle that were stamped on his memory. The officer that called them mule drivers rides up, looking wild. He begins yelling at the head of the regiment. According to this man, they stopped too short. The troops ruined a successful charge by a distance of about one hundred feet. The men listen to the harsh words for their commander, a colonel, who seems injured during the speech. He tries to defend the men, saying they went as far as they could. The officer says it was not enough; the charge as an intended diversion was a failure. After the officer rides away, the lieutenant says that he is a fool for thinking they did not fight hard in the field. The colonel tells him that it is his own affair, and he did not ask for anyone else's opinion. The troops initially feel that it is a huge mistake. Then they begin to believe that the general actually did think their actions to be light. Henry does not get mad. He chalks the outcome up to bad luck. Wilson, the friend, agrees. Every thing they do, he adds, they cannot seem to do it right. Then Wilson adds that he heard some other people talking about how they two fought the best in the whole regiment. Then several men come running up to Wilson and Henry. One begins speaking in an excited voice about a conversation he heard between the young lieutenant and the colonel of the regiment. The colonel asked, according to this soldier, who was carrying the flag, to which the lieutenant replies that it is Fleming. Also, the soldier adds, the lieutenant mentioned Wilson as being at the head of the charge, howling loudly. The colonel saw them in the distance, apparently, and called them "babies" to which the lieutenant replied that "they should be major generals." The two men say that the soldier is fooling them, but in their hearts they are proud and happy. They do not think of their old mistakes. The past no longer holds disappointment. Chapter 21 Analysis: Upon returning, the new men of the regiment realize that other's perceptions of their actions are quite different from their own. The veterans mock them. The generals do not see their actions as successful at all. In fact, they are so minor that their charge was not even a successful diversion, let alone a successful charge. Once again, the men of the regiment are let down. Every time they are lead into battle, they feel that it is the climatic time. Henry especially has this view. He believes himself to finally be grown after the battle before. He did demonstrate bravery in carrying the flag; the narrator did describe him as a "man." Yet, in the view of others, the regiment still has more to go before it can be successful in battle. To merely be men is not enough. They still have not demonstrated enough courage. They can be satisfied with their actions as a regiment, but they need to further the greater cause of the army before they can truly be successful. In spite of this, Henry and Wilson continue to grow and mature both in their own actions and in the eyes of others. Henry does not throw venom at the leaders who reprimanded the regiment for their job. He and Wilson explain the happenings and others perception as "bad luck." This is a little short sighted on their part‹the charge they participated in was merely a diversion for another regiment's attack, and therefore not a "real" charge. Still, their outlook is mellower than before. Also the rumors of their being commended by their officers supports this view of their maturity. Of course, we do not hear these from the officers themselves. We have no idea how accurate the soldier's version of the story is. And yet, that someone in the regiment would come and tell them the tale goes to show that their actions are being recognized. The two men are standing out as exemplary members of the regiment. They are beginning to combine group excellence with individual excellence. This, the book suggests, wipes away their old guilt and is a further step on their road to maturity and true heroism. Chapter 22 Summary: As the next phase of the battle begins, Henry is still in command of the flag. He stands erect and tranquil, his vision unaffected by the smoke from the rifles of his regiment. In the distance, two regiments of one army fight two regiments of the other. They are engrossed in their own fights, not noticing the rest of the war around them. In another direction, there is a brigade trying to drive the enemy from a grove. They disappear into the trees, from which soon comes an incredible racket of guns. Soon, the brigade comes marching calmly back out of the trees. Cannons go off with a crimson flare. Men run around. The battle of the four regiments lasts for some time. Their flags flutter in the air. Then there is a silence all around. The blue lines of the Union army shift and change slightly. Except for a distant cannon, it is very still. Suddenly, the guns on the slope behind the regiment roar out. Muskets resound from in front. The din rises, sounding like enormous machinery. Henry can see the battle continuing on another front, with the two lines, blue and gray, swaying back and forth against each other. Places of cover, such as trees and fences, are argued over as if they were precious metals or gems. He can not tell which side is winning. When its time comes, the regiment bursts forward with fierceness. As bullets hit them, they cry out in rage. Their front is a wall of smoke with yellow and red flashes. The faces of the men are smudges with powder and fogged with smoke. The lieutenant, arm bandaged, still swears loudly at the men. The youth stands with the colors, absorbed in the battle as a spectator. It makes him babble occasionally, words coming unconsciously. Then a line of the enemy begins to advance very close to them. The regiment simultaneously fires at them without waiting to be ordered. The Rebels are behind a fence, which covers them from the attack. They rise and shoot into the regiment. The smoke wafts through the Union soldiers' line. The Rebels yell taunts and gibes, while the men in blue remain silent, intent on keeping the ground they have gained. Henry has resolved not to budge from his place. It is clear to him that his final revenge was to be his dead body, lying upon the field. The regiment bleeds profusely. Men are falling rapidly. Henry goes rearward. In the fray, he can make out his friend through the confusion. The regiment's fire is beginning to fade. Chapter 22 Analysis: Henry is now tied up with the flag he carries. As he gathered strength from it before, he continues to do so. He stands strong in the rush and din of battle. Interestingly, the gray phantoms, which haunted him at the first skirmish, are not bothering him now. They are smoke that he can see through. He makes out different parts of the battle and sees how the greater body, that of the army, is engaged even if he himself is not yet fighting. In this view that he sees, the blue and the gray of the opposing armies are lashing out at each other. The two sensibilities of before, the blue of melancholy and reflection and the gray of the unknown, are finally in one view. This is one of the first times that they are identified in the same picture. This shows how Henry's perspective is becoming more encompassing, more improved. He sees the whole battle, and thus can finally see the blues and grays battling with one another. Introspection and mystery are converging; one side will win. He cannot tell which one is. As his regiment strikes out, it seems like they will fall. They get close enough to finally see the enemy soldiers, becoming less and less mysterious all the time, while their cohesion as a group becomes stronger. The regiment makes more smoke of their own; their faces are blackened with soot. They are accustomed to these changes at this point. The battle experience has made them into something different. They were men before; they are changing into a fighting force. However, those men in gray are fighting well, and the men in blue begin to drop more. Though they are growing, their survival is threatened. In the next chapter, they will commit one final act of bravery that will seal the actions of this book and be part of the defeat of the gray. Chapter 23 Summary: The officers from behind the line run up to the regiment, yelling that they must charge. Upon hearing this, the youth makes some rough calculations about the distance between them and the enemy. He suspects that they will have to be coaxed into charging, but instead the men quickly fix their bayonets and leap forward, running in a fever of haste. Henry keeps the colors up near the front, waving and shrieking. In the frenzy, there are no loopholes. Henry does not question or reflect. He merely goes forward with savageness and speed. Up ahead, he sees a fence, which he is sure hides the bodies of the men in gray. He expects to hear a great concussion when the two groups collide. However, this does not happen. The men in gray begin to turn and run. One part of the line, however, stands firm. Their flag waves over them and their rifles. If they are going to be defeated, they must be engaged by the men in blue very closely. Henry fixes on the sight of the enemy flag. Having it would fill him with pride. He races towards it, swearing to himself that it will not escape. The Union army stops, fires, and keeps running and the Rebels. Through the haze, Henry can make out four or five men stretched out on the ground, with their color sergeant tottering over them. He has obviously been hit and is fighting to stay upright. His wounds make him stumble. The youth's friend, Wilson, jumps at the enemy flag like a panther and wrenches it free from the dead man, who falls on the grass, bleeding. The men yell and wave in ecstasy. They have won. Four men in gray sit as prisoners. One is nursing a wound on his foot. It is not very serious, but he guards it carefully and swears frequently. Another, who looks very young, is taking the capture in stride, conversing lightly with the men in blue. The third sits stonily, replying to any attempt to speak to him "Ah, go to hell!" The last stays completely silent. He looks dejected and lost, perhaps thinking of what awaits him as a prisoner of war, perhaps out of shame for having been captured. The men sit in long grass. Wilson comes up holding the enemy flag. The two congratulate each other. Chapter 23 Analysis: The regiment is facing their final test of this book. On their last advance, they have gotten close enough to the enemy to see features of their faces. Here, they stand so close that the men in gray insult them. Upon hearing their officers' demands to charge, they do so, towards the gray fence, through the smoke. Finally, after facing so much grayness, the regiment is cutting through it. Their actions will give it features. Henry does not know what they look like, but he knows that they are there: "he knew that in it [the smoke] lay the aged fence of a vanished farmer protecting the snuggled bodies of the gray men." He has grown and matured from his first experiences in battle. Beyond the fence lies an end to the mystery and even a chance to demonstrate heroism. The flag of the enemy represents not just their power as an army, but the power of battle as well. When Wilson grabs the flag and waves its "red brilliancy" in the air, he is demonstrating an end to these struggles against war and its psychological terrors. The flag with its red field is no longer waving in defiance of their actions, representing their bad luck. The men in blue now hold it. They have faced and conquered those earlier dragons. Their colors make a brief reprise after the color sergeant falls dead. Where he falls is described as a place where "much blood [was] upon the grass blades." While these colors still hold some of the gore and horribleness of war, the red and the green no longer represent a mythological creature. Blood and grass intermingle the red and the green. These are real things. Henry Fleming can see these. He does not have to imagine them. Also plainly visible are the captured Rebel soldiers, who resemble them in so many ways. They speak the same language as their captors and look very similar, save the color of their uniforms. They also span ages, physical conditions, and (most importantly) reactions to their present condition. All of their actions, full of self-care, fear, and thought, are not those of phantoms or war ghosts made of smoke. They are men, just like the men in blue. It took several skirmishes and an adventure fleeing for Henry to realize this, but now he knows. His war adventure, as far as the book is concerned, is drawing to a close. Chapter 24 Summary: The noises and cacophony of battle grow intermittent and weak. The youth and his friend look up, almost surprised at the sudden lack of these noises. Henry even asks out loud what will happen next. Eventually the regiment receives order to retrace its steps. The men get up slowly, stiff and groaning. They retrace the field they had run madly across just recently. The regiment reforms and marches, soon joining up with other troops. They pass a house where other soldiers lay, waiting for more orders. Their march curves, giving them a view of the debris-strewn ground on which they have just fought. Henry says to his friend that it is all over. The youth reflects again. His mind is undergoing a subtle change. It takes him a moment not to think as if he were in battle. He understands now that his shot/countershot existence was in the past. He escaped the place of red blood and black passion. Eventually, he thinks with satisfaction and cohesion about his past actions. He can look at them like a spectator and criticize with some correctness. Now, unlike before, he is unregretting. He feels good. Then, a few ghosts from his flight from the first battle dance before him. He blushes slightly about these. Another phantom, this one of reproach, come to him as he remembers the tattered soldier, who was so concerned for Henry's fabricated wound and Jim Conklin's sufferings. He begins to sweat and then lets out a cry. Wilson, his friend, turns to him and asks what is wrong. The youth's reply is an outburst of crimson oaths. Whichever way his thoughts turn, they are encountered now by his memory of desertion. He looks at his companions, wondering if they see his emotions in his face. Yet they are too engrossed in discussion about the battles that happened that day. For a time, Henry does not feel like he can join in. His thoughts are occupied with the tattered soldier and worrying that his fellow soldiers can see evidence of his past actions on his face. Yet, he eventually puts his sin at a distance. He now looks at his past bombasts and opinions of battle and is happy when he despises them. With this comes a sort of assurance. He feels a quiet manhood, a sturdy blood. He knows that he will no longer doubt his inner guides. "He had been to touch the great death, and found that, after all, it was but the great death. He was a man." Henry leaves with his soul changed. It begins to rain, but he smiles nonetheless. It is a world for him. He feels rid of the red sickness of battle. He is ready to turn to the peaceful images. Over the river they march beside, a golden ray of sun comes through the clouds. Chapter 24 Analysis: Henry finally finishes his inner journey during the course of this chapter. He is no longer dealing with pressures of battle. With the admission that "it's all over," he is free from his constraints of attempting to guess the present or the future. He can now reflect on what he did in the past. At first, he feels that he is happy. He basks in his accomplishments, and as he does he is bathed "in purple and gold." This new color combination is used in its historical connotation of royalty. Henry has now become a hero. Without much fanfare, from himself or others, but still he seems to ascend ranks with these colors. However, his good emotions hit a snag when he considers his flight. New ghosts of shame and reproach come back to haunt him. As he thinks about his flight during battle and the tattered man who cared for him so much that he abandoned him, he goes as far to cry out and swear "crimson oaths" at his friend. The redness of battle has returned to him. He acts out of rage again, this time at his own past. Most importantly, though, he is concerned that his fellow soldiers can detect these emotions. People's perceptions matter very much to him still. He is doing enough battle with his own head; he does not want to fight the words and emotions of others when they find his secret. He eventually puts the past in the past and does not let it bother his present state. In fact, he does this by looking back at his earlier thoughts of battle and fleeing. Note, however, that what we get is Henry's observation of his own emotions: "He was gleeful when he discovered that he now despised them [his old thoughts]." It is only by observing himself, and not putting so much importance on the view of others, that he can move beyond his old state. Once he sees that he despises his old mind, he is finally described as being sure, steady, and "a man" (as opposed to earlier, when he was one of many "men" of the regiment). He can now leave the battlefield changed. And while he his no longer decorated in gold and purple when he leaves in the rain, the golden sunlight comes through the leaden clouds. These are the final colors we are left with. In the gray mysteries of life, there is greatness. And one must realize this for one's self.
ClassicNote on Red Badge of Courage
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