The Red Badge of Courage Study Guide

Summary and Analysis of Chapter 1-4

Chapter 1 Summary:

As The Red Badge of Courage opens, we do not know precisely where we are or whom we are watching. As the fog clears gradually, we see a part of the Union army upon a riverbank. Rumors are flying among the troops about their own movement. One soldier, named Jim but always referred to by his tall height, tells his comrades that he has heard, through several sources, that they will be on the move on the next day. Arguments break out between the soldiers whether this rumor is true.

The attention then shifts to another private named Henry. The narrator rarely refers to him by his first name, rather as "the youth" or "the young soldier." He sits in his tent and thinks about the possibility of finally going into battle. He had before joining the army dreamed of grand battles that "thrilled him with their sweep and fire"; and he seems to desire a "Greeklike" or "Homeric" struggle. His mother had discouraged him from joining, saying "'Henry, don't you be a fool.'" He enlists anyway, and upon learning so his mother only cries two tears and says, "The Lord's will be done, Henry."

However, when Henry finally leaves, his mother does not try to convince him to be a hero, as he expected. Instead of an impassioned, beautiful scene, his mother gives him some simple advice. She tells him to be careful and not try to beat the entire rebel army himself and not to fall in with a bad group of soldiers. Then she adds: "I don't know what else to tell yeh, Henry, excepting that yeh must never do no shirking, child, on my account. If so be a time comes when yeh have to be kilt or do a mean thing, why, Henry, don't think of anything Œcept what's rightŠ."

He leaves his mother, who cries softly as he goes, and joins his comrades on the way to Washington. Along the way, they are fed at every station, treated almost like heroes just for joining the fight. Then they train and drill often. Yet they have not fought in battle. Henry does not know what to think of battle. He is sure it will not be a Greeklike struggle. The veterans he meet claim that the rebels are starving and tattered, but these same veterans taunt the new recruits, so Henry is unsure whether to trust them either.

Most of all, Henry is concerned that he will run when he finally faces a conflict. He wants to be a hero, but his fears nag at him, making him doubt his own courage and mettle as he lies in his tent. Jim, the tall soldier, and another soldier, "the loud soldier," both come in Henry's tent, still arguing about the rumor. Jim offers both of them evidence that they are about to move out‹the cavalry have moved out. Henry nervously asks Jim how he thinks their regiment will do and gets the vague answer that they will do well, probably. Henry then asks if he thinks any of them will run when faced with a fight. Jim is confident that they will fight, because they are from good stock; however, there is no way to tell‹they have not been under fire yet. Henry finally asks Jim if he would run from the battle. Jim speculates that he might, especially if a whole group began to run. "But if everybody was a-standing and a-fighting, why, I'd stand and fight," he adds. These words comfort Henry as the first chapter ends.

Chapter 1 Analysis:

Stephen Crane begins a new course of realism in The Red Badge of Courage. Many critics point to him as one of the first American authors of a modern style, and The Red Badge as a fine example of this. The novel is built on a coming-of-age theme, and many of its descriptive elements, such as its concentration on nature and character's actions, are in the realist style, most popularized in America by William Dean Howells and Frank Norris. However, Crane's style in this book has some slight differences from earlier styles. The narrator does not name the characters. In the first chapter, we discover the names of Henry and Jim only through their dialogue with other characters. The narrator only refers to them by descriptors‹"the tall soldier" in Jim's case and, most importantly, "the young soldier" in Henry's case.

Calling Henry "the youth" is the most important indicator that this novel is about his maturity. In this first chapter, he is unproven even to himself. Before enlisting, Henry's thoughts of war and battle are those of valiant struggles for life and death; the possibility of cowardice does not arise in his initial thoughts of battle. However, his mother's speech leaves much more room for interpreting his own future struggles. Rather than give him the advice of the Spartans of ancient Greece to "return carrying your shield or on top of it" (meaning either victorious or killed in combat, not having dropped it fleeing), his mother tells him that, when faced with a situation of kill or be killed, he has to do what he thinks is right, and only that. This is a critical moment in the plot of the book. Henry's actions when facing battle are unknown, even to him. His convictions were strong enough to join the army. Yet these were not because of patriotism or a will to simply fight; the narrator shows Henry to be fantasizing of heroic deeds instead. His mother's farewell speech shows that no one, not even Henry or the narrator, is sure what he will do when faced with battle. Even Jim's answers, while they calm Henry's fears, still are so vague that they do not lead to any concrete predictions for their future actions in battle.

Yet Crane has written into this novel a way to tell certain characteristics even without explicit direction from the narrator‹the use of color metaphors. The title itself is a color metaphor. "The red badge of courage" could refer to an actual award given for heroism; yet it surely refers to a wound from battle. The "red badge" shows your valiancy by proving you were bold and brave enough to fight until wounded. However, as we see in the first chapter with the mother's speech, this courage is not guaranteed. Indeed, every man killed in battle would have a red badge, and still be dead.

Crane uses color metaphors to imply certain meanings throughout the book. An example of this in the first chapter is Henry's mother's discouragement is described as throwing a "yellow light upon the color of his ambitions." The use of yellow here is deliberate; it refers to cowardice or "being yellow." Henry somehow sees denying his heroic dreams as necessarily falling to cowardice, as this metaphor shows.

As the first chapter ends, we have been introduced to the characters, but also shown that they are even uncertain of whom they are and how they will act. Developments come in later chapters.

Chapter 2 Summary:

Upon rising the next day, the soldiers discover that the rumor is not true and they are not moving out, as Jim Conklin, the tall soldier, had said. For Henry Fleming, this is not a relief. His dilemma of whether or not he will run in battle is still present. Without a battle to test it, he has no idea if he will be courageous or cowardly. He begins to compare himself with other soldiers in and attempt to get some confidence. He asks several soldiers, in unquoted dialogue, certain questions trying to see if they have similar doubts and fears as he does; and he gets little confirmation of his anxieties in reply. His own feelings about his comrades are ambivalent. Sometimes he thinks them heroes. Sometimes he feels that they are all secretly scared.

One morning, he finds himself in the ranks. His regiment is on the move. The early morning is full of colors‹the men's uniforms glow purple, red eyes peer from across the river, and the sun slowly rises yellow in the east. The soldiers return to the validity of the rumors they heard the day before, especially when they turn a hill and find they are no longer along the river. Jim, the tall soldier, praises his powers of perception; others argue with him. Henry takes no part in these discussions. He is still despondent and sad. He keeps to himself, his feelings still ambivalent.

The rest of the soldiers seem to be rather jolly. A certain fat soldier attempts to steal a horse from a house. Its owner, a young woman, comes out to save it. The rest of the regiment jeers and yells at the fat soldier. He is beaten away from the horse and flees back into the soldiers, peppered with catcalls from his fellow troops.

At night, the men pitch camp. Henry Fleming lies in the grass, thinking. He wishes more than anything to be back at home, with its barn and fields. He remembers his milk cows, which caused him so much grief previously, with a bit of joy and nostalgia. He tells himself that he is not fit to be a soldier, and he feels quite different from those soldiers around him whom still seem happy and carefree.

The loud soldier, who we learn is named Wilson, come up to Henry, spouting exciting, confident statements about the upcoming battle. "We'll lick Œem good!" he repeats. His joy at the upcoming battle irritates Henry, who says, bitterly, that Wilson must think he will do great things. Wilson replies that he does not know if he will do great things, but he will fight "like thunder." Henry then challenges Wilson, saying that he may well run when the battle comes, and that he is not the bravest person in the world. Wilson replies coolly that he never said he was, just that he will give his share of the fighting. Then he tells Henry he talks "as if you thought you was Napoleon Bonaparte." Henry goes in his tent and hears the sound of card games outside. Exhausted from his ruminating, he falls asleep.

Chapter 2 Analysis:

This chapter of The Red Badge of Courage is dominated by Henry's mixed feelings about the upcoming battle. He goes back and forth in thoughts about himself and his fellow soldiers. One moment, he feels that he and they will both fight like brave heroes. The next, he is sure that he is not meant to be a soldier and neither are his companions. If they seem upbeat and happy, they are hiding a deep fear.

It does not matter at this point which one of these interpretations about the men is correct. It is Henry himself who is most important and who the novel follows closely. Because of this, his own feelings of fear and bravery and (above all) uncertainty dominate and tint the perception of all things in this chapter.

For instance, returning to the color metaphors, when they arise, they come grouped together. The best example of this is the description of the regiment moving out for the first time. Their uniforms are not the blue of melancholy and deep thought; they are purple. In the next sentence, "red eyes" of the enemy peer at them from across the river. In the east, the yellow of the sun appears, silhouetting a colonel on a horse, making him appear solid black.

These colors can be interpreted as having certain meanings. Eyes that are red seem more violent and potentially harmful. The yellow may still represent cowardice; but the color is from the sun, a far more courageous and proud symbol. The black of the colonel can be any number of things‹fear of the unknown, a death symbol, a figure of authority like a judge. Most important though is not the particular meanings of these color metaphors but that they appear so rapidly one right after another. They mirror Henry's ambivalence. All these emotions, represented by distinct colors, are embedded in this one scene of the regiment moving out.

Later that night, most of the colors are gone, washed out by darkness. Still, Henry broods. His conversation with Wilson does not help his mood much. What it does reveal is, despite outward appearances, Wilson seems to have made a certain peace with the unknown. He knows not what will happen exactly, just that he will try his best. His words to Henry echo his mother's farewell speech and Jim Conklin's responses to his questions.

The color that does appear in small splashes in this scene is red, the red of the fires. This suggests what we are soon to discover‹that a battle is eminent.

Chapter 3 Summary:

The regiment marches for another two days, picking up their pace on the last day. The men become tired, hot, and cranky. They begin to leave some of their supplies behind, trying to lighten their load. They move more fleet and quickly, like veterans. Yet they still do not have the look of veterans. Their uniforms are too bright and new.

One morning, however, Henry, the youth, is kicked awake by the tall soldier, Jim. The men are suddenly running in fog. They hear the distant sounds of firing. Regiments and other men become gradually visible, as the sun rises and the fog begins to melt away. The regiment eventually climbs a hill. As they get to its crest, Henry expects to see a battle scene.

Below a skirmish is in progress. There are lines of fighters spread across the field, and a flag flutters. The skirmishers melt into the scene only to appear later on. Henry is engrossed, trying to observe everything. His own regiment is still in a woody area. They eventually pass the body of a dead soldier. His uniform is yellow-brown and his shoe soles are paper-thin. This enraptures Henry too, wanting to walk around and around the body and stare at it.

Henry continues to think as the regiment marches. He feels threatened by the landscape. He sees it as full of fierce-eyed enemies. All of a sudden, he is full of distrust of his commanders. He is sure they have led the men into a trap. He must get out; he must be the sole eyes and ears aware of this danger.

The overall mood of the troops is now very serious. They are facing a true test of their mettle very soon, and it affects them in different ways. Primarily, though, the untried men are quiet and absorbed, waiting to face war finally. They are ordered to dig in. Then they are ordered to pull back.

The soldiers become annoyed, asking why they were marched this much if they are not going to face the enemy. They are then moved to another position, then another. The anticipation starts to irk Henry, who wants to return to camp or go in a battle, one or the other. The men eat their lunches and talk about their irritation. The loud soldier, Wilson, and the tall soldier, Jim, argue more about whether or not they are truly eager to fight.

In the afternoon, the regiment goes over the land they took, the same land Henry looked at that morning. It no longer threatens the youth; he feels familiar with it. However, he keeps changing his mind about the upcoming battle. He begins to think that it is just better to be killed directly and end his troubles. Out of the corner of his eye, death seems like rest and appreciation, much better than the present circumstances.

As gray smoke rises above the regiment, Wilson lays his hand on Henry's shoulder and says that, with a trembling lip, that this will be his first and last battle. He just has a feeling about it. He gives Henry a packet of letters to send to his family and then, crying slightly, turns away.

Chapter 3 Analysis:

The images of landscape and color are brought to bear in a very wide fashion in this chapter. After more marching and chatting, Henry and the regiment find themselves on a hill overlooking a battle. Their view is from afar. They do not get to experience it as direct participants and are therefore detached from the actual experience of battle (as we are to find in later chapters, this experience looks and feels quite different from this first view).

Henry's feelings remain ambivalent and shifting. He almost always has some opinion or thought about battle, but they change often. In this chapter, they change at least three times, from fear and dread upon seeing the battle, to anticipation of an actual fight, to frustration when the men are being withdrawn. The colors of this chapter do follow the previous pattern of relating to Henry's shifting feelings. Gold, orange, and red colors flash in this chapter.

Yet, there is an important shift of colors in this chapter towards gray and silver. These two colors have particular historical references to the Civil War. Silver refers to the metal of the troops' rifles, bayonets, and swords. More important, gray was the color of the uniform of the Rebel army. Much like the blue of the Union army uniforms often relates to Henry's melancholy and brooding, the gray refers to the southerners' uniforms, but symbolizes the unknown of battle. The blue Union soldiers, who have been thinking about the implications of battle for days, are now faced with the enemy, both in the metaphor of the "blood-swollen god" of war and the Rebel army. The gray of smoke and fog symbolizes this unknown; and in this chapter, Henry gets closer and closer to it. He believes it to be red, but all he can see now is gray.

Henry's manner begins to become more outward in this chapter as well. This will come to bear later in the book, but he starts to act less and less in his head. This is not through his doing. Wilson gives him his packet without comment of any intelligible sort from Henry. This shows a shift in Henry's interactions. The battle is getting closer and closer. It will finally stop to exist only as postulations in Henry Fleming's head.

Chapter Four Summary:

The new regiment is now halted just inside a grove of trees, facing out into a field covered in smoke. They talk about rumors and reports from battles, who has lost what and moved where. As always, there is a disagreement about what has actually happened, this time to a Union battery. There is talk about brave, stubborn soldiers.

Then the noise and altercation in the field in front of them grows louder, and the new troops grow silent. The Union troops in the field of smoke begin to run. A shell screams overhead the new regiment, landing in the grove and throwing up a shower of pine needles. Bullets begin to fly towards them as well. The lieutenant of the youth's company is then shot in the hand. He curses as if he had hit his finger with a hammer, which sounds quite funny to the rest of the troops. Curiously, the lieutenant holds his wound away from his uniform so as not to stain it.

Then the Union troops in the field begin to run away. The battle flag falls. The veteran regiments flanking the new troops catcall and jeer the fleeing men. Henry Fleming's regiment is dumbstruck with horror; before they fight, they have just witnessed a regiment's defeat. The officers try to get the running men to stop, using their swords, fists, and cursing to keep them back. They rage with fury at the retreating regiment. The commander of that brigade gallops about on his horse, weeping. He looks like "a man who has come from bed to go to a fire." The fleeing troops pay no attention to any of these officers as they run.

This makes Henry sure he will run. Seeing the "mad current" of retreat swallow up the men's conscience, he is sure that he too will be driven wild and panic with battle. Yet, at the chapter ends, Henry resolves that now is the time he must see the "monster" that made them run, regardless if he runs himself.

Chapter 4 Analysis:

The men still talk and gossip at the beginning of this chapter. They dig in at the edge of a forest facing an open field. A regiment in front of them is already engaging the enemy.

Henry and his regiment do not see the battle clearly; they see it in a haze. This shows their lack of knowledge. The haze and gray colors represent the unknown of battle. Bullets and cannon shells come screeching out of this haze. When one of these shells hits the lieutenant of Henry's company, note that he has no desire to play up his wounds. He holds the wound away from him, not wanting to get blood on his uniform, not wanting red to mingle with the blue. This stands in marked contrast to some of Henry's musings. Redness to this officer is not a badge. He got his wound almost by accident. He does not want to show others proof of this wound‹it is not an authentic "badge" from battle.

As the men watch the haze more, men start to run out of it. The defeated regiment runs through the young troops. The "blue line" only watches them go. The officers try to stop their flight, but the other troops only watch. They are still "blue" and considering an outside action. War, though so close to them, has still not touched them. Though Henry can observe what "the struggle in the smoke" has done to other men (made them wild and flow like a flood), he can still only think about this. He is resolved to view this beast of battle, and only that he might run. He still does not know. He will find out in the next chapter.