Red Badge of Courage

A Battle for Adulthood Throughout the novel The Red Badge of Courage, written by Stephen Crane, a theme is portrayed within a battle that takes place during the Civil War. It is that each person must find the courage to win his or her won battle for maturity or adulthood. A soldier, who is also the main character, Henry Fleming, exemplifies this theme. Henry Fleming begins as an immature soldier who enlists in the army …

…the novel, I feel Henry has changed and he knows it. He has become a soldier that gained courage, responsibility, and can admit his wrongdoing. He can never make up for deserting the dying soldier, but now entering adulthood he can “put his sin at a distance.” By gaining new qualities and confronting his cowardice, he is truly mature: “He felt a quiet manhood, nonassertive but of sturdy and strong blood. He was a man.”