"Cliff Notes - Red Badge of Courage" - читать интересную книгу автора (Cliff Notes)

This is the plot of The Red Badge of Courage. The novel does
not tell a story so much as it focuses on the perceptions and
development of one young man. We see what war looks like to
Henry, and the effect it has on his thoughts and feelings. In
many chapters there is action--Henry's friend dies, or the
Confederate soldiers charge and the Union troops push them back.
But in other chapters nothing much happens except in Henry's
mind. Because Henry's emotions swing back and forth--sometimes
he feels proud and brave, other times like a criminal--the book
does not follow a straight line either.

As The Red Badge of Courage opens, we meet Henry Fleming, who
has signed up for the army against his mother's wishes, full of
dreams of becoming a hero. But so far he has done nothing but
sit around the camp. With all that time on his hands, Henry
begins to worry whether he will be able to fight bravely, or
whether he'll run away when the shooting starts. He talks to
some of the others about it, but because he cannot really
explain his fears, he feels more and more alone. Jim Conklin, a
friend from home, thinks he'll do whatever the other boys do; a
loud soldier named Wilson is full of boasts. The first sight of
battle is terrifying, and Henry feels worse and worse. Even the
loud soldier, convinced he's about to be killed, gives Henry
some letters for his family.

During the first skirmish Henry fights well, feeling as much
part of the regiment as the fingers of a hand. They hold the
enemy back. But while they are relaxing, the enemy strikes
again. Now Henry is exhausted and terrified. When two men
standing near him turn and run, he throws down his gun and races
to the rear. He tells himself that the regiment was about to be
wiped out, and that saving himself was a responsible act. But
he soon realizes that the line had held. Now he is furious at
the other soldiers for making him look like a coward when he's
sure that he was right.

Feeling awful, Henry walks into the woods, both to hide and
to make himself feel better. He throws a pine cone at a
squirrel, the animal scampers off, and he thinks to himself,
"What I did was only the law of nature; animals protect
themselves." But in the heart of the forest, under trees arched
like a cathedral, Henry confronts a horrible sight: a dead man
terribly decayed, whose face is covered with ants. He stares at
the dead soldier, realizing that this is the real law of
nature.

Leaving the woods, Henry walks along with some wounded men.
He envies them and wishes that he too had a wound, a red badge
of courage. One of the men, he realizes, is his friend, Jim
Conklin, who is dying. Henry and another soldier, a tattered