characters

Henry- he is the main character, also referred to as the youth. He goes into battle pretty confident and ready to fight, but then gets scared and runs. In the end he is known as one of best fighters.
Wilson- known as loud soldier. Becomes Henry's good friend. Takes care of him when he is injured, and shares many experiences with him in battle.
Jim- known as tall soldier. also Henry's friend, he dies in battle.
tattered soldier-he is a wounded soldier who Henry meets. he is kind of telling Henry throughout the book what he should do. or what he has done wrong.
lieutenant- Henry's commander. gets mad at them alot. Towards the end when Henry does well in battle they work together to motivate the men to keep fighting.
Henry's Mom- She does not want him to go to war.She represents one of the reasons Henry does not want to fight. He must come home to her.

chapter 24

The men wait a while and then get orders to go back to the river. As they are walking Henry is thinking about his whole experience in war. He thinks about how cowardly he acted during at the beginning of the book. Then he thinks about all the good things he did in the recent battles and becomes happy, but then he is still reminded of how he ran in the first battles and also how he left the tattered man to die.Henry thinks about all the good he has done and the bad, and finally is able to put aside how horrible he feels for how he acted in the beginning of the book.Rain starts to fall and this makes Henry happy because it reminds him of a perfect world.This makes him feel like he has some manhood now. He sees a ray of sun over the river breaking through the clouds.

I wish it would tell about him coming home instead of just ending it now. I think Henry has become a better person because of the war. It has made him stronger and has helped him grow up faster. He now feels like he is a man, before he felt young and weak.

Does he go home now? Is the war over?

chapter 23

The officers tell the men to charge at the enemies and the men do with as much energy as they have left in them.Henry notices that many of the enemy soldiers are running when the see Henry and the soldiers coming towards them.Only a few of their men remain. Henry notices that the man carring the enemies flag is hurt, so he and Wilson rush to go get it. They pry it out of the dying guys hands.Finally the enemy retreats and Henry and the rest of the soldiers rejoice.During the battle they happened to capture 4 of the enemies soldiers.

I dont see how they keep winning the battles when it seems like so many of their men are dead of fleeing from battle. They always seem to fight well in the end but not se well in the beginning.

How do they win with so little soldiers?

chapter 22

The praise that Henry recieved from the last battle helps him in the next battle they are starting. It gives him confidence and reassurance. The blue and gray units come together to fight in battle.The battle is not going very well, Many men are dying. For awhile Henry stops fighting and is just watching the battle.He is so consumed in his thoughts that he does not know what is going on around him. He made up his mind that he would not retreat no matter what happens.He thinks that if he dies in battle it would be revenge on the officer who called his unit mud diggers and mule drivers.Many of the soldiers near him are being shot.Henry notices that the lieutenant and Wilson are not hurt, but the number of soldiers is decreasing majorly.

Henry has become so brave compared to the first few battles. Now he is willing to give his life in battle, even if it is mostly for revenge. He went from being one of the weakest fighters to one of the bravest.

How does he not get shot when he is staring offf into space?

chapter 21

When Henry's regiment returns to their camp, all of the other soldiers make fun of them for running away during the battle. Henry's unit becomes very angry when the other soldiers say this, they were proud of themselves and now all of it is gone. While they are talking Henry looks back at the distance they had to march in battle, at the time it seemed very far, but now he realizes that it was actually a very short distance.Then the same officer that called them mule drivers comes to them and yells at them for their bad behavior, and then calls them mud diggers. This makes the men very mad and they start blaming their commanders.While the soldiers are complaining some of the men come up to Henry and Wilson and tell them that they heard the commander telling the general that he thinks they are the best fighters in the regiment. They pretend not to care, but really they are very excited and gain a lot of confidence from that huge compliment.

The soldiers felt so proud of themselves and then the other soldiers just tore that away from them when they were making fun of them.

Why does the general get so mad when they didn't lose the battle?

chapter 20

Once Henry and Wilson get the flag from the dead guy, they notice that the other soldiers are starting to back further away from battle. The two of them fight over who is going to carry the flag. Eventually Henry pushes Wilson and takes the flag from him. The soldiers keep going, but many are getting shot and the enemy is coming closer on all sides of them. They are being surrounded.Henry is really hoping for a victory, because he wants revenge on the officer who said that they were worthless and fought like mule drivers.He knows that they are not going to win, but he still carries the flag and tells the men to fight. Many of the men are starting to scatter.The enemy is now close, Henry's regiment puts up a strong fight. Henry thinks even if they lose it does not matter because towards the end the men gave it their all. As the fight continues Henry's regiment ends up making the enemy retreat. All the men are so proud of themselves and have regained their confidence.

I can't believe they held them off. I thought for sure they were going to lose and Henry was going to end up running again. He has really changed from the beginning of the book. He was willing to give up his life by carrying the flag.

How did they win the battle when so many men were running away?

Quiz 2

Quiz #2

Henry is referred to as "the youth" and Wilson is referred to as "the loud private." How has each character changed from the beginning of the story to now, specifically in regards to these monikers? Use specific examples from the story to support your answer.
At the beginning of the story when they were getting ready to fight their first battle Henry was getting very scared and was thinking about running away. He ends up running away two times at the beginning of the war. He thinks he had to run, that the men that stayed were stupid for not running and he was the smart one. He was really just trying to make himself not feel guilty for running. Now Henry has fought in two battles, and showed much bravery and courage. In the second battle he fought, the one where he carried the flag, the general was very impressed with the bravery Henry and Wilson both showed. They helped the men carry on.
In the beginning of the story Wilson was very cocky and bossy. He was not very considerate to the other soldiers.Wilson has changed a lot because when Henry was hurt Wilson took care of him. He gave up his bed and got Henry food, he also bandaged up his head. Then when there was a fight between two soldier Wilson broke it up. Wilson has also showed tons of courage in the battles as well. He and Henry have become good friends, they do everything together.

chapter 19

Henry and Wilson are very shocked when they hear the officer saying this about their unit. They thought their unit was doing very well. They also hear the general saying that most of the men in their unit will be killed. When they hear this news they hurry back to thier comerads and are going to tell them the news, but then decide not to. They do not want to scare the other soldiers with their horrible news. So they go into battle, but have secretly given up inside, knowing that they are doomed. As they move forward in battle Henry sees many men being shot. Then unit stops in fear two times and the lieutenate has to tell them to start moving again. As the battle goes on Henry sees the flag and starts to follow it, but soon after he does this the man carring the flay is shot and dies. Henry and Wilson take the flag and begin to move on in battle.

I cant believe they dont tell anyone that their army is going to be scarificed in battle. Maybe it is a good thing though, because if the men would have known maybe they would have given up just like Henry and Wilson kind of have secretly.

Are they suppossed to pick up the flag since the guy died? Or do they just do it?

chapter 18

Henry's regiment is taking a break, but they can still hear the fighting going on off in the distance. During the period of rest the men noticed one of the soldiers crying out in pain, it was their comrade Jimmie Rogers. Wilson volunteers to go get some water for him and Henry goes with him. They think there is a stream near by, but go so far that they can see some of the battle being fought in another area. The genral and his staff pass by them and they listen in to what they are saying. They are talking about which unit they can go on without, and it just so happens it is 304th which is the unit Henry and wilson are in. The officer said that they fight like a bunch of mules.

I thought Henry's unit was doing really well and now they are considered to be the weakest.

Does Jimmie Rogers live? What happens to Henry's unit?

chapter 17

After they wait for a long time the enemy finally comes. Henry starts fighting visously and with alot of anger. He does not know what is going on he just keeps on firing and reloading. One of his comrades starts to laugh. Henry realizes that he is laughing because the enemy has retreated and he was shooting at nothing. The lieutenant tells Henry that if he had 10,000 wildcats like Henry he would win the battle in a week. Henry feels like he fell asleep and did not even know what he was doing while the battle was going on, then when he woke up he had become a knight. The soldiers are very happy and comment about how many men the enemies lost in the battle.

I think this is only going to make Henry more cocky, now that everyone thinks he fought so fiercly in battle.

How does Henry fight so good now when just the day before he ran with fear?

chapter 16

Henry's regiment was called to take the place of troops that had been fighting for a long time. They were in a trench waiting to fight. While they were waiting Wilson fell asleep. While they are waiting Henry starts complaining about the leadership of the army. He says that the soldiers are fighting as hard as they can, but they are still losing. So that must mean it is the generals fault not the soldiers. Henry shuts up quick when a man askshim," do you think you fought the whole battle yesterday." They are lead to a place in the woods where they are told they will be fighting soon. The men are very tired and are not ready to fight again so soon.

Henry is talking like he knows how to run the whole army. He acts as if he fought so hard and bravely yesterday when he didnt even fight at all. I dont like that he is getting so cocky when he didnt do anything.

Why does he think the generals are doing such a bad job? is it because they are loosing?

chapter 15

Henry remembers the letters that Wilson gave to him to give to his family if he dies, he is going to remind Wilson about the letters but decides not to. He decides to keep the letters, he believes they represnt how weak and scared he was at the beggining of the war. He thinks if he has the letters he can avoid any conversation about the previous day. Henry thinks he is destined for greatness, and wont be killed, so he has no reason to worry about the upcoming battles. He thinks back on those who ran from battle yesterday and looks down on them. He thinks they are weak, but he believes that he fled with pide and courage. While Henry is dreaming of all this Wilson asks him for the letters back. wilson is really embarrassed this makes Henry feel like he is better than Wilson.

Henry is getting really cocky. He has not even done anything in battle yet,but he is acting like he is some hero. Wilson was so kind to him, Henry should have just given the letters back to wilson, but of course he had to keep them to try and help with his lie.

Does Henry really think that he is doomed for greatness or is he just dreaming this?

chapter 14

When Henry awakes he feels like he has been asleep for 1,000 years. He can hear fighting off in the distance. At first when he looks around the camp he believes that all the soldiers are dead, and he starts to panic. A horn blows and then all of the soldiers start to get up. Wilson sees Henry is awake and asks him how his head feels. Henry says he still feels pretty bad. Henry noticed a change in the loud soldier. He is no longer so loud, but now seems to be showing tenderness and care to Henry and the rest of the men. Henry tells Wilson that Jim is dead. A few soldiers start to get into a fight, but Wilson breaks it up. Then he tells Henry that he thought they lost half of their men but they all started returning during the night. He said they scattered and fought with other regiments just like Henry did.

Wilson seems like he has really changed since the beginning of the battle. He took very good care of Henry and then stoped a fight between two of the men. He is not the loud soldier anymore. He is caring and thoughtful now.

Why has Wilsom changed from being loud to being caring? Is it because of the war?

chapter 13

Henry went toward the fire the stranger told him was his camp, while he was walking there he was thinking about how his comrades would make fun of him. He thought about running off and hiding, but he was in far to much pain to do so. All of a suden he sees someone and it just so happens to be his friend wilson. Wilson thought that Henry was dead, he was glad to see him. Now Henry is trying to come up with a cover up for running away. He tells Wilson that he has been shot in the head. Just as Henry tells him this a corpral comes and looks at his head, then Wilson comes and bandages him up and lets him sleep in his bed. Henry asks him where he is going to sleep and he says right down here by you. At first the youth starts to argue with him, but then he lays down and quickly falls asleep.

i cant believe Henry lied about getting shot in the head. I know he did it to protect himself from being made fun of, but that is a horrible lie to tell. I thought if you get shot in the head you would die quickly. Now every one is taking care of him and treating him well because they think he was in battle, when really he just got smacked in the head.

Does anyone ever find out that he did not get shot in the head? How can he lie about that? i would think he would feel really guilty.

chapter 12

The battle is still going on and the youth is now in the middle of it. They are going to lose this battle so the men start retreating. Henry wants to figure out why they are losing the battle so he grabs on to one of the running soldiers and tries to ask him, but the soldier just tells him to let go.Henry does not let go so the soldier takes his rifle and hits Henry in the head with it. Henry struggles to get up, but finally does and tries to find his regiment. He is in a lot of pain and is just thinking about laying down and going to sleep when a cheery soldier comes up to him and offers to help him find his way. They finally reach Henry's regiment and the cheery soldier leaves Henry to find his own regiment when Henry realizes that he never saw the soldiers face.

Henry is in a great amount of pain now, if it wouldn't have been for that cheery soldier Henry might have never made it back to camp.

I thought they were far from Henry's regiment, so how did they make it their so quickly?
Who is the soldier that helped him?

Quiz 1

1. What does the title of this book mean? Be specific in your response, noting Henry's comments.

The title means when you get wounded in battle it is like your wound is representing a badge, because it shows that you have shown courage in the battles. Henry once said the he wished he had a "Red Badge".

2. What is the importance of the tattered man? What does he represent?

I think the tattered man represents Henry's mind. The tattered man makes Henry regret not fighting, but he also terrifies him at the same time.

3. What role does Henry's mother play while he is away from her?

She plays the role of Henry's reason to come home. She tells him he does not need to return just for her sake, that she can take care of herself. Henry knows that this is really hard for her though and that she is very worried about him. When he leaves to go to war she is crying in her garden.

4. How does Henry use the squirrel to justify his actions?
He throws a nut at the squirrel and the squirrel runs away. this shows Henry that it is everyone's natural instinct to run away, he is trying to justify to himself that it was alright to run from the battle.

chapter 11

Henry nears the battlefield and it is very noise. Henry watches the other brave soldiers and for a moment thinks he will join them, but then thinks and realizes he has no gun and is tired and thirsty. He goes closer to the battlefield to try and see who is winning. He almost wants his army to lose so that he wont feel so guilty about fleeing from the battle and prove that he was right about them losing the fight.This thought does not make him feel better though, adn he thinks of himself as an evil person who has no compassion for others.Henry thinks his side will win the battle so he tries to come up with some excuse for running off to tell his fellow soldiers, but he cant think of any. He fears he will be know as a coward forever.

I thought Henry was going to go fight now but it doesnt look that way anymore. I think he really wants to fight deep down, but he just cant find the guts to do it and keeps trying to tell himself reasons why he shouldnt or cant go.

Do we ever find out what happened to the tattered soldier? Did he die?

chapter 10

The tattered man is amazed at the strength that Jim showed before he died. Most men would not have been able to walk with a wound that bad but he was able to run.They walk away from Jim's body and the tattered man tells Henry that he does not feel well. Henry is afraid that he is saying he is going to die, but the tattered man says he cant die because he has children at home and he must live for their sake. The tattered man thinks that Henry is someone else, his friend Tom, who also has a wound. This soldier is causing Henry great pain and suffering in his thoughts, so Henry leaves him.He leaves even though he knows that without him the tattered man has little chance of survival. The tattered man calls out to Henry for help but Henry leaves him, he is distracted by the question about his wound.

I think the tattered man really makes Henry think about what he is doing or not doing. He makes him feel guilty for not fighting in battle.

How could Henry just leave that poor man there to die after he just told him he needed to survive for the sake of his children?

chapter 9

Henry is trying his best to avoid the wounded soldier. He is looking around, and sees all of the wounded soldiers and is jealous of their wounds. He thinks that if you have a wound it means that you have alot of boldness and determination so he wishes he had one. As he is walking he sees a man and recognizes him as the loud soldier,Jim. Jim has been shot, he asked Henry where he has been. Jim is badly wounded and thinks he will fall down and be killed be the tanks, so Henry tells him he will take care of him.Jim feels safer now but soon tells Henry to leave him. henry doesnt want to leave his friend so he tries to lead him away from the battle, but he gets away and goes over by some bushes, then shorty after that he dies. Henry and the tattered soldier watch as he dies in horror.Now Henry is very mad because of the death of his friend and shakes his fist toward the battle field.

Henry is having lots of different emotions now. He is sad because he just lost one of his friends and also made and i think frustrated. I think now he is going to fight in the battle because it took his friends life.

why is the tattered soldier following Henry? I thought Henry got away from him.

chapter 8

As Henry is walking out of the forest he hears the sounds of battle.On his way to get a closer look at the battle he sees many wounded soldiers. One of the soldiers,who has blood all over his head and his arm is almost falling off, starts to talk to Henry. The soldier tells Henry he cant believe the bravery and mental toughness that the men are showing in battle. The soldier is very proud that his men did not run from the enemy. When the soldier asks Henry where he has benn wounded Henry is ashamed and runs from the soldier.

Now Henry feels really ashamed of himself after he sees all the wounded soldiers who fought hard for their country, while he ran from it.




Where is Henry going? Does he ever go back to battle?

chapter 7

Henry is angry with the troops in his regiment who did not flee from the battle and won the battle without him. He tells himself that they were supid for not running, but he is really just trying to try and get rid of his feelings of guilt and cowardness.While he is trying to justify what he did he goes off into the forest, and is far from the battle field. He likes nature, it makes him feel better.while he is in the forest he sees a squirrel and throws something at it, the squirrel runs. This makes Henry feel better because its showing that it is natural to run from danger.Soon after this he finds the body of a dead soldier in the forest and there are ants crawling all over it.After Henry sees the body he runs from the forest.

I feel bad for Henry. he is so young and i dont think he had any idea what it was like to go into battle. He feels so alone and helpless, especially now since the army won the battle and he wasnt even there, because he was afraid.

Does anyone know where Henry went?

chapter 6

Henry wake up after a while after they had just fought the first battle. He feels good about himself because he had just survived his first battle. Then all of a sudden a man yells out here they come again. The enemies are back to fight again. the soldiers are not prepared to fight again and are in desparate need of more supports. Many of the other soldiers begin to fun from the battle and Henry is doing the same. He says it is like a race,you do not want to be in the back because those are the ones who will die first. The men that stayed and fought ended up holding the enemies offf without all the men that ran. Henry thinks the men that stayed are stupid, because he thought they had no chance.

Henry's feelings about war keep changing. in the beggining of the book he was proud to serve his country, then he wanted to go home, then after the first battle he felt very accomplished and proud, and now again he is wanting to flee.

How did they hold the enemies off when all the men were running?

chapter 5

After they wait awhile the Henry's section begins to fight. At first he is very scared and wants to run but then as the enemies are coming closer he does not feel so alone and an outcast. He gets angry and starts firing his gun over and over. one soldier trys to run away and the lieutenate yells at him and beats him, so he goes back to fight. The captain is shot and dies After a long battle the enemies begin to retreat and the soldiers start to cheer.

The army goes from fleeing in fear to holding off the enemies.Henry is also not as afraid now he feels more a part of the army not just a lone indivdual.

chapter 4

The battle is not going well at all. the lieutenate has been shot in the hand and all the men are running from the battle. Henry is now thinking about doing the same.

Everyone thought they were going to win this battle wiht ease and now they are loosing misreably.

chapter 3

The soldiers have their first battle after walking for miles. They all stoped to take a break and then Henry was woken up by the tall soldier and the battle began. Henry does not want to be fighting the government forced him and he really wants to go home now. At the end of the chapter the loud soldier tells Henry he doesn't think he is going to make it out of battle and asks him to give some letters to his family.

I thought that Henry wanted to go into battle, but in this chapter i found out that he was forced to go it was not of his own will.

Why does the loud soldier think he is going to die?

Chapter 2

They are getting ready to go into battle and Henry is having some doubts.He is going around trying to find some men who are having some of the same doubts as him, but he is not having any luck. He feels like a mental outcast, so he goes off to be by himself. He starts thinking and is wishing he was back home with the cows even though he used to think they were a pain, now he would do anything to be back home. He does not think he is suited for battle. Another soldier comes and starts talking to him and Henry asks him if he thinks he will run during battle. The soldier says no,and then Henry asks him if he thinks he is the bravest man in the world and he says no and gets mad at Henry and then walks away. Henry is alone again and is still suffering with the thought of going into battle.

I feel bad for Henry. He thought he was ready to fight and was all excited, but now that the time has finally come he is petrified and has no one to talk to that feels the same way as him.

Why did they put the part with the maiden in there?

The Red Badge of courage Chapter 1

At the beginning of Chapter one a soldier shouts out that they are going to move and begin a battle. The other guys don't believe him though because they have been told they would move eight times now, but they never do. The younger soldiers were listening to this and one of them, whose name is Henry went into his bunk to think about the news he had just heard. As a little boy Henry always wanted to be in the army,his mother of course did not like the idea so much. When he was older he went several times to enlist, but his mother discouraged him and told him he would be of more use on the farm. Finally one day he enlisted, even though his mother told him,"Don't be a fool." Then his mother told him goodbye, but it was not the kind of goodbye he wanted. So now Henry is in the army and just heard they are about to go into battle. He is getting a little nervous now that they are finally going into battle, and is thinking he might run.

I think Henry is in for a big surprise. He was so excited to enlist, and go into battle. I don't think he knew what he was really getting himself into though. Now that he hears there is going to be a battle he is having some second thoughts and worries.

What is the youth? Is that all the young soldiers or just Henry?