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

But some people think that Henry has not changed that much by
the end of the book. They point out that there is no steady
growth in Henry's understanding. Even after the horrible
experiences of his day of flight, when he looked death in the
face, he can still tell himself that he is braver than Wilson.
These readers see Henry's feelings of love for the flag in
Chapter 19 as silly romanticism. And they argue that after his
experience in the forest in Chapter 7 he should know better than
to fantasize about the beauty of nature, as he does at the
book's end. To these readers, Henry's visions of the comforts
of peace are daydreams every bit as boyish as his earlier
thinking about war. Besides, the war is hardly over; it will
continue for two more years.

Another dispute over Henry's character focuses on how much he
is in control of what he does. Some readers see Henry as a
creature of instinct throughout the book. He runs away out of
instinct (he is tired, he sees two soldiers deserting), he
returns to his regiment out of instinct, and eventually he
fights bravely out of instinct. These readers point to the
patterns of imagery in the novel to support their argument.
Crane repeatedly describes war as a beast or a machine. Either
way it is a force bigger than any one man. Henry himself thinks
of the regiment as an iron box he's caught in, and as a hand of
which he's one finger. He returns to the regiment like a moth
to a flame. Henry's maturation, these people claim, is the same
as the regiment's growth in experience; these things just
happen. Heroism, they say, isn't individual; it's acting
according to instinct within the regiment.

But other readers, while agreeing that Crane shows war to be
a force larger than individual men, argue that Henry does make
choices. He does not wind up winning the battle himself as he
once dreamed he would. That kind of warfare no longer exists,
if it ever did. But within the boundaries set down by the
nature of the war and the regiment, Henry does reflect, and he
does become, at least in part, responsible for his actions.
This debate about Henry's character is part of a larger question
about whether The Red Badge of Courage is really a naturalistic
novel, that is, whether Crane sees people as being totally in
the grip of forces outside themselves.

You must decide for yourself what you think about Henry's
character. One way to do that is to pay close attention as you
read the book to what is going on in Henry's mind. Remember
that much of the vivid and unusual language in The Red Badge of
Courage describes how things looked to Henry. He is thoughtful
and observant, and we really do hear a lot about his reactions
to things. You should also try to separate what Stephen Crane