Compare And Contrast Soldier's Heart And Red Badge Of Courage

“A lad whose face had borne an expression of exalted courage…was, at an instant, smitten abject…he saw the fleeting forms…Directly he began to speed toward the rear in great leaps.” (Crane 75-76). During his second battle Henry was tired and unlike the first battle he did not fall into the “battle sleep” where the fighting became automatic for him. Instead Henry was afraid and since he had not yet found courage he saw the other soldiers fleeing and so he fled himself. At first Henry believed that to obtain courage you needed to be wounded and after he fled without a wound he believed everybody would see him for the coward he was. “He wished that he, too, had a wound, a red badge of courage” (Crane 100).

Even though, when the rivals regrouped and charged back the other men started to flee so he followed them into the woods. When he found out the soldiers that stayed won the battle, he was angry at them for winning the battle without him. By the end of the book, Henry starts to show how much courage and bravery he has gained. He uses the acquired courage to lead the regiment to a victory while carrying their flag. These three events show how Henry has gained courage and bravery which he now assumes himself as a hero just as he wanted to be.

In “ The Red Badge of Courage ” by Stephen Crane, symbolism is frequently used as a demonstration for the main character’s credulity, his instinctive perspective of war as well as the barbarity of the battlefield . Through this masterpiece, Stephen Crane wants to remind us all that people at times have immature feelings and trivial desires even though they may end up in tragedy. However, such fascination is nothing but a gullible thought of the adolescent. In this story, the main character- Henry is a boy who is overwhelmed by the eminence of war and the acknowledgement enlisting the army. Therefore, he conscripts himself for military service.

In the novel The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien expresses to the reader why the men went to the war and continued to fight it. In the first chapter, “The Things They Carried,” O’Brien states “It was not courage, exactly; the object was not valor. Rather they were too frightened to be cowards.” The soldiers went to war not because they were courageous and ready to fight, but because they felt the need to go. They were afraid and coped with their lack of courage by telling stories (to themselves or aloud) and applied humor to the situations they encountered. The men who served in the Vietnam War were just barely men, some of them were just hitting the age twenty.

A Rumor of War by Philip Caputo shows the hard work and difficult tasks the men had to go through to prove themselves and protect their country. The war will change the men’s attitudes and the way they do everything. Men made sacrifices in the Vietnam War most people would never make in a lifetime, they will not just sacrifice but push themselves physically harder than most any other men. The men will also emotionally change from constantly watching other men die, or killing other men. The mens first kill was always the hardest for them, mentally they had so many thoughts of the other mans close ones back home and what they would go through and how it would be all their fault.

Crane describes the soldier as desperate for something to drink. This is confirmed whenever he decides that he is going to take the risk of crossing the battlefield to fill up his canteen. Stephen Crane uses his opinion that people go to war and fight, but nothing changes afterwards, and puts it into this story. People are also desperate enough to fulfill their need to be on the battlefield; that they are willing to put their lives at risk, which Crane sees as idiotic. People are injured and die, and families are torn apart because of war, for the end result to be the same.

Hector chooses to go to war, even though his wife and son beg him to stay. Next characteristic is that he performs courageous deeds. Hector risked his life to fight in war. "Once again on the battlefield, he was eager for the fight, and better fortune for a time lay before him(Hamilton 194)." Hector leads his army to protect Troy.

Homer’s depiction of the nature and character of war itself seem to be unmerciful in its raw form. Throughout the course of book seven of the epic, The Iliad, many events and actions of the characters are in the motive of war and winning a battle. A war in its raw form is where characters are pitted against other characters for the sake of a battle and defeating their enemy, whether they want to annihilate them or to win the spoils of war. The characters in this book when fighting in battles appear to be almost patriotic for their army and are unmerciful. They are passionate in the art of fighting and are eager for it.

Although these men are not fighting for a great reason, when “honor’s at the stake” (4.4.59), they fight to their “imminent death” (4.4.63). This shows how Hamlet should act since his justification for seeking revenge is far greater than this army’s reasons for going to battle. Since these soldiers “go to their graves like beds” (4.4.65), Hamlet acknowledges that he must take action and have his “thoughts be bloody or be nothing worth” (4.4.69). In this soliloquy, Hamlet realizes that it is necessary to take action now. For too long, he has worried about the aftermath of murdering his uncle, but now he has been motivated by Fortinbras’ army willing to die for a worthless cause.

The Battle of Holtzwihr thus is a significant battle for many Americans, but especially for those in Audie Murphy’s unit. Audie, a nineteen year old lead ten older men into battle, however the unexpected happened to them; They were surprised by an attack against a large German squad of 250. Young Audie Murphy knew their chances of surviving were very low, however, that did not stop him from trying with all he had to keep his men safe. Murphy instructed his men to retreat into the tree line while he phoned the Allied artillery. Yet, nearby a shell from the opposing side hit a tank destroyer and set it ablaze, Murphy without thinking jumped on the destroyer and began to use its machine gun turret which happened to still be intact.