Ptsd In Red Badge Of Courage

In the novel, Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane talks about Henry Fleming, a young man who enlists for the war and has very little experience. During the novel, Henry has witnessed war as a glorified period rather than the true reality of it. Crane suggests that war is harming Henry, since his perception is the true reason why Henry well end up getting killed on the battlefield. Also, Crane emphasizes that war should be seen as brutal and traumatizing as its actual reality rather than glorifying. This tells us Henry may have a disorder called PTSD, since during the war he encounters a potential hallucination that helped him on his survival. Not only that, but the natures signs and friendship are what kept him alive and turned him into the

Henry and his regiment lost a battle and retreated, while he was bashed on the head and laid unconscious. While unconscious he heard a “cheery-voiced”(81) soldier. That particular person takes Henry back to his regiment, but others claim to have not seen anyone like him. The cheery voiced soldier is an effect of the PTSD Henry has, mainly due to the various encounters and morbid experiences Henry has gone through. Henry proves himself one last time when his regiment were ordered into enemy territory, seemingly thrown as sacrifices to the enemy. The officers stated that the people of the regiment are nothing but, “mule drivers”(112). That specific statement mentions how worthless the soldiers are due to their inability to win. Henry soon proves them wrong by capturing the enemy flag, despite the union losing. Regardless, the officers praised Henry for his performance which concludes with Henry becoming mature, his maturity being from his PTSD. In conclusion, Henry does in fact have PTSD because of the various experiences and encounters he has throughout his time in the war, most of which were from his companions and nature itself. His PTSD became the very thing which kept him alive and eventually altered Henry to the point of maturity. Not only that, but also his little experience in war to becoming an experienced