The Red Badge of Courage

How is the tattered man’s attitude toward death different from Henry’s attitude? What might be the reason for the difference?

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The tattered man is quite a pathetic character. He sees everything about the army as honorable even though he has two gaping wounds himself. The tattered man laments and fusses about death. He is obsessed with talking about it with very little point to what he is saying. Henry finds his attitude contrary to what a good soldier should have. The man's extroverted lamenting look cowardly when death is all around them. Henry even leaves the dying Jim Conklin to get away from the tattered man. Henry has accepted death as an inevitable result of war and that is all. Unlike the tattered man, Henry internalizes his feelings and moves on.