The Red Badge of Courage

The Red Badge of Courage looked like it could be a great book from the beginning. I have always been interested in military history and when I saw the title it appeared to be a book about warfare. After the first few pages it was clear that it was not just a book about warfare, but it was a story about a young Union soldier who is confused about his place in the army. Discontent about even having to be in the army, Henry Fleming decides he is going to desert his unit. This was a horrible choice in my opinion because he decided that he was not an important part of the army. This led him to believe that desertion was okay which is a pretty ridiculous idea for if every soldier believed that, then they would all desert. At this point, I simply despise Henry because he chooses to save himself instead of fighting like he was trained to do. As the story progresses, Henry finds a group of injured soldiers and simply tries to pretend he was injured. But he soon hears about his battalion's victory. Then, he returns to his battalion which is a clear symbol of him being a hypocrite. He decides that he feels guilty and only decides to return to is battalion because they have won a battle. In the final battle, Henry fights bravely and shows himself to be one of the best soldiers in his battalion. This book is very similar to Crime and Punishment in that they both involve characters that have epiphanies. The main character in Crime and Punishment turns himself in in the end just as Henry decides to redeem himself in battle.