In both “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” by Fredrick Douglass and the movie of The Red Badge of Courage screen written by John Houston but based on the book by Stephen Crane, similarities are shown in the main character’s mental state, physical state, and more. To be more specific, both stories show a sense of mental and physical “war” going on. With Fredrick Douglass, he was in a mental war with himself about trying to get out of slavery and become a free man. His physical war is physically fighting with his owner in order to earn and receive the correct treatment and the equality that he deserves. For Henry, his mental war was with himself and wanting to leave and run from his fears but he also wanted to fight …show more content…
Henry from The Red Badge of Courage was also going through a mental war along with his physical war. His war was about wanting to be safe and leave the war to be with his family. He wanted to run away but at the same time be courageous and become known as that “war hero”. One example from the movie to show his mental war was when all of the soldiers were so happy and laughing and he could not help but be sad. He had walked away to just go think and another soldier had noticed. The other soldier came up to him and asked what was going on. Henry did not know what to say. This scene shows that even Henry was confused and upset at the fact that he could not be like everyone else and just be happy. He was struggling to be happy because he had more things going on. He wanted to be that courageous hero but he had other factors weighing on his heart. This scene shows the mental war he is having and just how much he misses his family and does not want to lose them. While going through these mental wars, both men were also going through physical wars which made their journey harder. Frederick was being beaten by his owner repeatedly …show more content…
One night, he got into a fight with his owner, the fight became physical and another slave had come into the barn looking for them. The master demanded help because he became scared of losing. The other slave refused to help. He knew that the punishment he would go through after not helping would be better than the mental punishment he would put on himself for going against one of his own kind. At the end of the fight, Frederick ends up winning and he is not beaten as regularly. He thanked the root he had carried in his pocket. On Henry’s side of the story, he is going through a literal war, the Civil War, and he is on the battlefields and feeling alone. For example, he was in one particular battle and the other side was making headway. They began to get closer and closer and Henry became scared. His commander was telling all of the soldiers to stay and fight. The commander told them to fire and hold their ground, one soldier even tried to run but was caught and told that he must stay. Henry became scared and decided to run. Nobody saw him but he felt so terrible for what he had done once he had time to
At the beginning of chapter 13, he was in Baltimore with his friends and he had gotten the news that old master and a few others had died, he was moved away to his new home. He felt like in the slave master’s eyes they are no different than the cattle that they take care of. Frederick had a hard time leaving Baltimore because he had some friends/students that he taught and played with. When they were done with dividing they sent him to his new owners, the master was stingy and the mistress was cruel. They gave him and the other slaves just enough to survive, his hunger was so bad that he sometimes had to steal food (he was against any type of stealing at the time).
In the slave narrative “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,” Douglass lacks a great deal of courage at the beginning of the story. Douglass runs away in fear after a brutal beating from Mr. Covey. Douglass was so afraid and worried as to what might happen to him if he stays with Mr. Covey. In the film, The Red Badge of Courage, Henry has a similar experience. As Henry heads to the battlefield, fear overcomes him, he only had the courage to stay for the first leg of the battle because he soon flees the sight.
(p.16).Even Henry Fleming had a big dream, when he was immature, which was to be a hero in the war like General from the old Greek story, and he could not think the war is not scary, dangerous, and horror. However, he thought the war was going to be a place that he can be a hero. After the first battle, he noticed war is not as much fun as he thought, so he ran away from the battle and worrying about how his fellow soldiers will talk about him after they caught him ran away. However, he became a man after ran away from the horror.
Frederick Douglass's “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” and John Huston's movie The Red Badge of Courage originally written by Stephen Crane are two prominent works of literature that deal with different aspects of the human experience. Both works have important themes and ideals between them they have become known as American literary classics. They have become very important works over time. Despite the differences in their subject matter, these works share many similarities in terms of their themes, style, and representation of the human spirit. “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” is a firsthand account of the author's experiences as a slave in the 19th century.
In the “Red Badge of Courage” and “Narrative of the life of Fredrick Douglas, an American Slave,” the main characters go through great personal development. Both Henry and Fredrick have growth in their courage, perception, and bravery. The similarities are very potent through both stories' tones as well. Frederick goes through so much pain and torture as a slave and eventually learns to stand up for himself. Henry does something similar by gaining courage through his wartime experience but is also incredibly different compared to Frederick.
The realities of war and violence throughout history were expressed through writers such as Stephen Crane in his film, The Red Badge of Courage, and Federick Douglass in his writing of the “Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass”. Both authors describe the brutality of these historic hardships and the way people can change with the affects of their hardships. Crane and Douglass expresses both the concept and theme of courage through their writing. Stephen Crane’s film, The Red Badge of Courage, follows a young soldier by the name of Henry Fleming fighting in the American Civil War. To Henry, courage is the willingness to stand and fight in a battle without fear.
and he saw the rebellions dropping the cleared on side of the hill and they were moving up and started to take over the battle. Henry sht like a mad man every one of his shots were hitting a
Huston and Jacobs wanted to display acts of courage in their works by showing courageous acts during war and repression, as well as making the decision of ‘fight or flight.’ In the short film The Red Badge of Courage, our main character Henry is on his way to fight in
Throughout Fredericks childhood, there were a lot of examples where he was put into terrible abuse and terrible behavior involving him. As a young boy he learned the first lesson about slavery
However, Henry is afraid that he would be slaughtered or ran over when running away from the war. Sadden that this might be his fate, he expresses that he would rather
Realizing in his struggles that mental strength can overcome physical abuse. What made Frederick such an amazing man was what he did with what others said about him and the things he did the brave steps he took, he didn 't take it personally and just stopped doing what he believed in just because other people didn 't like it or agree with it. The hate he received made him stronger in the end. If he had taken what people said to heart than he probably wouldn 't have accomplished all that he did. When Hugh Auld 's wife Sophia defied the ban of teaching slaves to read and write and decided to teach Frederick.
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane is a historical fiction novel centered around a young Union soldier and his struggle with finding courage within himself. It is based in Civil War torn Virginia in 1863. It follows the path of a young soldier who fights with himself about whether he should stay and fight, or run and survive. Henry Flemming must choose between being courageous and preserving his manhood, or saving himself.
He romanticizes the image of dying in battle by invoking the Greek tradition of a dead soldier being laid upon his shield. In the second battle, the opposing forces shown perseverance after a minor retreat. Contemplating between his belief and self-preservation, Henry unexpectedly panics and runs away. The egotistic nature of Henry’s mind reveals itself as he works desperately to restore his own self-confidence by
In “ The Red Badge of Courage ” by Stephen Crane, symbolism is frequently used as a demonstration for the main character’s credulity, his instinctive perspective of war as well as the barbarity of the battlefield . Through this masterpiece, Stephen Crane wants to remind us all that people at times have immature feelings and trivial desires even though they may end up in tragedy. However, such fascination is nothing but a gullible thought of the adolescent. In this story, the main character- Henry is a boy who is overwhelmed by the eminence of war and the acknowledgement enlisting the army. Therefore, he conscripts himself for military service.
In battle, there are many ways to be put in the wrong position. A few erratic decisions can cause lifelong problems. In “The Red Badge of Courage” Stephan Crane shows the many situations in battle during the Civil War in 1860. Henry Fleming, also known as “The Youth,” made many notable decisions that would consider him a coward rather than a hero. Henry demonstrates a coward because he ran during the battle, deserted the tattered soldier, and lied to the other soldiers.