The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen CraneWar forces young soldiers to grow up quickly. In Stephen Crane's Civil War novel, The Red Badge of Courage, Henry Fleming is no exception. He is confronted with the harsh reality of war, which forces him to readjust his romantic beliefs about war. Through the novel, the reader can trace Henry's growth and development through these four stages: (1) romanticizing war and the heroic role each soldier plays, (2) dealing with the realities of war, ( 3) lie to yourself to maintain your identity. self-importance and (4) a realistic awareness of one's abilities and one's place in life. Through Henry's experiences on his path to self-discovery, he is greatly affected by events that help shape his ideology of war, death, courage, and manhood. Romantic ideologies will be replaced by a more realistic representation. When Henry decides to go to war, he has a romantic image of what war will be like. He refers to the great battles of the Greeks and hopes that his own battles will be just as heroic. Henry “had long despaired of witnessing a Greek-style struggle” (Crane, 3). His motivation to fight comes from his desire to become a hero. He believes he will do great things on the battlefield because that is his destiny and hopes that his achievements will be recognized. When he tells his mother that he is going to war, she doubts his motivation and encourages him to keep clean socks (Crane, 5)! Obviously, she treated him like a child, not a man. She recalls that Henry begins his journey to war as a young person trying to find himself. Henry begins to question his courage the moment he discovers that his regiment will begin drills and move to attack the enemy. Ho...... middle of paper ...... not affirmed but of solid and strong blood” (Crane, 128). He had matured, but the forces that controlled him were still beyond his control. He felt the need to be socially accepted and to maintain control over how others perceived him. Through the four stages of growth and development that Henry overcame, the glorious dreams he once had were replaced by the more realistic horrors of war. Crane represents courage as an instinct, similar to cowardice. Only when instinct dictates courage can one be heroic. Throughout his struggle to gain self-awareness, he discovered new ideologies about war, death, courage, and manhood. He has a realistic image of war, an indifference towards death, instinctive courage and a quiet virility. Works Cited Crane, Stephen. The red badge of courage. New York, New York: Signet Classic by Penguin Putnam Inc., 1997.