The Red Badge of Courage Study Guide

Summary and Analysis of Chapter 9-12

Chapter 9 Summary:

Henry, the youth, falls back in the procession of wounded men in order to get away from the tattered soldier. Every one around him is wounded and bleeding. He perceives these men to be happy. He wishes now that he too had a red badge of courage.

One soldier by his side looks like a specter. He moves stiff and gangly, and if looking for his grave. Henry looks and realized who it is‹Jim Conklin, the tall soldier. Jim holds out his hand to shake; it is a gory combination of red new blood and black old blood. Jim first tells Henry that he was worried the youth had been killed. He then tells him the obvious, that he's been shot.

Henry tries to help the tall soldier along the way. The other soldiers are preoccupied in their own wounds. Suddenly, along their march, the tall soldier is overcome by a terror. His face turns into a "gray paste." Jim then tells Henry he is afraid of being overrun by an artillery wagon as it speeds down the road. Henry swears to his friend that he will take care of him. He begins to sob.

Jim, however, forgets those fears and then goes forward steadily. He keeps repeating "leave me be‹leave me beŠ" Henry must follow him. He must lead Jim out of the road, because a battery of cannon is coming down the road, threatening to run them over.

Henry directs Jim to the fields. He turns to watch the guns go by, then hears a cry from the tattered soldier that Jim is running. Henry turns to see his friend running clumsily through the field. The youth and the tattered soldier run in pursuit. They catch up to him, and Henry implores Jim to stop moving and rest. Jim can only repeat to leave him alone. He lurches forward, with Henry and the tattered soldier following slowly.

Then Jim pauses. His chest heaves. Henry calls after him; Jim just insists he should leave him alone. There is another silence. Then Jim stiffens. His legs shake and his arms flail slightly. He stretches upward and then falls to the ground, dead. Henry watches this display in horror and sadness. He rushes up to Jim, whose mouth is frozen open, blue-lipped, in a smile. Henry turns towards the battlefield with rage, as if he were to deliver a speech. All he can say is "Hell‹" as the red sun sits on the horizon.

Chapter 9 Analysis:

The beginning of this chapter stands out because of its specific reference to a "red badge of courage." The youth wishes he actually had a wound, which would show his bravery in the face of the terrors and struggles of battle. However, he sees the effects of these red badges in an upfront way when confronted with the spectral figure of Jim Conklin. The tall soldier has been wounded twice. The badges he carries prevent him from walking and thinking clearly.

Furthermore as they walk together, the gray fear and unknown is still with Jim, despite his wounds. His face turns gray as he tells Henry that he fears being trampled to death by the speeding artillery carts. This shows that the phantoms of battle and death, the gray unknown, do not escape even those who have a red badge of courage.

Henry, though he finally wants to act for the first time since the battle, cannot do anything. Jim will not let him even touch him. Besides, death is so close for Jim that there is nothing the youth can do. This frustration and anger at seeing his friend die makes Henry weep so much, that he cannot talk. Henry's words and thoughts are finally halted. He is no longer thinking now. Remember that he was still interpreting the images he saw as the fled from battle; now, he can do little but cry.

After Jim dies and Henry rushes up to his body, we see a transition from blue to red. The flap of Jim's uniform falls open, showing his side, which looks "as if it has been chewed by wolves." The blue musings of Henry have now transformed into a red reality. Wounds are not just outward marks; they have consequences on the body. While he may have desired to be seen with a badge of courage, Henry now realizes that these marks can lead to death.

Henry, still a youth, mistakenly calls this situation "hell" as the red sun sinks in the horizon. The red suggests this vision; and yet, while it may resemble his views of hell, he has not yet seen hell or even a battle to its conclusion. His views about red badges and war will undergo even more changes as the book moves on.

Chapter 10 Summary:

The tattered man and the youth can merely stand in awe of Jim's final struggle. Henry is full of grief, but has been rendered speechless. The tattered man tells him to not worry so much about the dead; they should look out "for number one." As he says this, he too looks as if he is about to fall over. Henry is very much afraid that this man will be dead soon. The soldier insists however they he will not, and cannot, die. He then tells stories of two soldiers. One, named Tom Jamison, was his friend from home. This man informed him during battle that he had in fact been shot. The other was a man who was shot in the head, replied (when asked) that he was fine, and then collapsed dead.

He then asks the youth again where his wound is. Henry becomes exasperated and replies that the tattered man should leave him alone. He was enraged at him for making him feel shame. The tattered man is slightly put off and says that is was not his intention to bother anyone.

Henry suddenly, after thinking to himself, turns to the man and says, "Good-by." The man gapes after him and asks where he is going. The youth can see that this man is starting to act animal-like and dumb. He sputters after Henry, calling him Tom Jamison, asking him where he is going. Henry merely points in a direction and says, "over there." The tattered man just sputters after him to not leave with such a bad wound. His sentences are broken and stuttered. Henry simply walks away. As he goes he turns and sees the tattered man wandering about in the field helpless.

At this moment, Henry wishes that he were dead. He believes that he envies the corpses that lay in the field and on the leaves of the forest. The questions of the man were like knife stabs to the youth. He feels that he cannot keep his crimes concealed; one of these arrow-like questions that flew through the air was bound to hit him. He could not defend himself against this.

Chapter 10 Analysis:

Henry still remains speechless, unable to act as this chapter opens. His companion, the tattered soldier, speaks as much as anyone in this book has up to this point. The chapter is dominated with his words. He can speak easily and freely. Because of his wounds, he feels woozy and strange; and he rambles throughout the chapter.

Henry, on the other hand, barely says anything. He has just witnessed his friend from home die and was unable to prevent it. He is in a line of wounded men, himself not wounded and in fact having fled from a battle, which his regiment won. Unlike the tattered man, he is not free to talk. He cannot interact with the tattered man or even like him. His actions and experience are totally different. And given the recent circumstances, he cannot feel like the tattered man. Therefore, he does not speak.

What he does do is walk. In doing so, Henry finally detaches himself from the wounded and their "red badges." Not having one, he cannot tell the tattered man where he is hit. The shame from this fundamental realization makes him finally leave the scene.

The tattered man, however, feels that the youth is wounded and yet does not know it. He calls after him, in his confused way, to stop and not go. "It ain't right," he says, for Henry to just walk away. Yet Henry must. He does not belong to these people, who bring "ghosts of shame" into his mind. Furthermore, these men, though they have red badges of courage, are near to death. This fact dominates the scene. Henry fled battle to save himself. Though he wants some mark of courage for himself, this is not the procession he should be in. Therefore, he flees the stinging questions of the tattered man. Now he runs toward the battle, instead of away from it.

Chapter 11 Summary:

Henry continues across the field. He rounds a hill and is encounter by a running mass of wagons, horses, and men. He is momentarily relieved. Everyone is retreating; perhaps his own retreat is not so bad after all. A column of troops comes up in the road, heading in the opposite direction. They push themselves through the fleeing wagons towards the enemy.

These men bring Henry's feelings of inadequacy back. He feels that these are chosen beings, marching in the sunlight. He could never be like these men. He feels that the final blame for his condition lies on some unnamable thing. He wonders why these men would be in such a hurry to get to the battle. As he watches Henry grows more envious. He wishes a tremendous force would throw him off, leaving a better person. He can see pictures of this more fleet and heroic soldier he would make. He feels the desire to fight again.

However, he has no rifle. This is not a problem, he thinks. There are plenty around to be had. He could fight with any regiment if he wanted. Yet he feels guilty returning to his regiment now. He imagines himself concocting lies to face the questions of his mates. These thoughts squash his courage. He suddenly feels consumed by thirst, feels dirty, and feels full of aches and pains. Small patches of green mist float in front of his eyes. He feels it impossible for him to be a hero.

Of course, he has not lost his greed for a victory, but the army's loss would be good for him. His mates would look at his absence less suspiciously. His thoughts go to the army as a whole and its future failures and then valorous deeds. Public opinion, he decides, cannot be accurate at a long range. Generals must deal with the agony of these opinions, much like he himself would deal with the opinions of his fellow troops.

If the army did well, he would be lost. He would be a condemned man. Henry's thoughts make him frustrated. He calls himself a villain and selfish. He again wishes he were dead. He envies the corpses, killed by luck. They would receive the laurels of tradition.

Besides, the army was not likely to be defeated. He needed to think of good excuses. Yet he cannot invent a plausible tale. He pictures the whole regiment talking about him derisively, how he ran in the thick of battle. He imagines who would not leave him alone about the issues, who would laugh at him. All the men would stare cruelly. He would be turned into a slang phrase.

Chapter 11 Analysis:

Unlike the previous chapter, which was dominated by the spoken words of one character, chapter eleven is a return to Henry's tortured, varied thoughts. He sees two conflicting images. First, he sees men driving wagons with horses and mules, fleeing a battle scene. These men have wild looks in their eyes. He initially feels that they justify his own fleeing. Notice, however, that their looks are animal and that they are driving animals.

In contrast, the troops going into the thick of battle have neither animal-like look nor animals accompanying them. These men seem to Henry to be superhuman. They march into battle in images of light and beauty, full of grace and dignity. At first these thoughts make him feel the urge to fight. He is described as soaring on "the red wings of war." Again war is described as something red, but now as a part of an animal, which Henry can assumedly fly upon.

However, his next thoughts kill his own courage. He fears returning to his regiment and bearing their questions and stares. This makes the wings fail. In order to master his fears of war, this images suggests, Henry cannot rely on his animal instincts. They return him to thoughts of his flight, during which he succumbed to his most animal-like impulses. Remember now the squirrel in the forest; fleeing does not make a hero. And Henry Fleming still wants to be hero.

This desire is so strong, it make him wish he were dead or that the army, which he should care about as a body and cause greater than himself, is defeated. Therefore evidence of his flight or the reasons for it would not matter. He does not see how he can still be a hero, despite his flight. Therefore he refers to himself in absolute terms in his grief, as villain and selfish.

However, his thoughts of his tortured return to his regiment still show his youth. As we will see very soon, his return to camp is not the torture he imagines. Yet it is interesting that he thinks that he will be reduced to "a slang phrase" by camp gossip, for in the context of the narrative, he is already a slang phrase‹"the youth." He must go back to camp and face battle again to cease existing as a slang phrase. For as long as he does not face these fears, the book suggests, he will always be simply "the youth."

Chapter 12 Summary:

The column of heroic troops has no sooner gone in the forest then they come out of it again, this time running. Henry is thunderstruck; these steel-hearted men are already defeated. The red animal of war will have its fill.

He tries to call out a rallying speech, but can only manage blubbering "what‹what's the matter?" The fleeing men run around him. They do not see him. Guns fire from behind them. They are asking questions, mostly about where roads lie. Henry finally clutches a man as he runs by. He can only stammer out the word "why." The man who he stopped screams, "Let go me! Let go me!" When Henry does not, the man hits him on the head with his rifle butt, and runs away.

The youth's legs turned to jelly when the rifle hit him. He falls to the ground and crawls around on his hands and knees. He is fighting with his body to stand. When he does, he feels his head. His wound is painful and bleeding.

The artillery of the army begins to gather facing the front. Officers, meanwhile, are trying to contain the fleeing troops. A squadron of cavalry rides into the fray as well. Various elements of the army are thrown together in a mass.

As the youth leaves, the cannon suddenly roar, followed by an answer from enemy infantry. Orange light of sunset bathes the scene. He hurries on in the dark. He hears men babbling as he passes them. His wound hurts much less, but his head feels swollen. He goes along, tired, thinking of old scenes from home.

Soon, he hears a voice over his shoulder, asking him cheerily how he is. Henry only replies with a grunt. The other man offers to go along with him, and helps him along as they walk. The other man talks constantly about the battle, saying that there was so much fighting, he could not tell what side he was on. He also tells a story of a troop in his unit that was shot in the head in the process of telling someone to go to hell. The cheery man takes Henry through all kinds of forests in the dark. Eventually, he leads him to his regiment, which he had left so long ago. The cheery man departs, wishing Henry luck. The youth then realizes that, in the dark, he had never once seen the man's face.

Chapter 12 Analysis:

Interestingly, the same troops who sent Henry on such a fit of philosophy about war and bravery soon turn tail and flee battle themselves. Their flight lends to a general air of confusion and commotion, with troops, officers, artillery, and cavalry all going in different directions, all making different noises. The scene is so confusing that Henry is again speechless and thoughtless. He can only blubber out his lack of understanding, repeating to himself and others, "Why? Why?"

It is in this confusion that he gets a wound. Being hit on the head does not help Henry's understanding of what is going on around him. And yet it is a real wound, with blood, resembling the red badge that he had wished for earlier. It comes to resemble a "red badge" in certain senses, as we will see in the next chapter.

However, unlike the confused ramblings of the fleeing troops in the first part of this chapter, it is the words of the cheery man that get Henry to his destination. This is one of the longest unbroken speeches in the entire book. It is unclear exactly who this man is. In fact, he himself says that he did not know in battle whether he was from Ohio or Florida. The army, the man states, is a disorganized mess. For a brief moment, we are no longer following Henry's or the narrator's thoughts. We are listening as readers to this cheerful man, as he guides the youth from the confusion of the earlier scene to safety and home‹Henry's regiment. It is through his words, not the youth's, that we arrive at the end of the chapter.