The Red Badge of Courage paper

Throughout the book Henry is very selfish because during the war he only thinks about his needs and wants.
• Henry shows he is selfish when he leaves this dying soldier and doesn’t even try to help him. The dying soldier also known as the tattered man asked for Henry’s help and he tells Henry that he can’t die because he has kids and he has to come home to them. Seeing the tattered man near death is making Henry very uncomfortable and is causing him great suffering in his thoughts. He just watched his friend die and the thought of seeing another man die is too great for him to think about, so he leaves. The tattered man calls out to him as he is walking away, but Henry just keeps on walking. He shows no sympathy for the tattered man, he leaves because he feels uncomfortable and he is suffering. It is all about him and his feelings and nobody else’s. “The youth, who had been holding a bitter debate with himself and casting glances of hatred and contempt at the tattered man, here spoke in a hard voice. "Good-by," he said.” (Crane 10.25) When Henry gets into a situation that deals with his needs and the needs of other people he always does that thing that is better for his needs even if it will hurt other people.
• Another time Henry was selfish was when he kept Wilson’s letters. At the beginning of the book Wilson gives Henry some letters to give to his family because he thinks he might die. Henry thinks about giving the letters back to Wilson, but then he decides not to because he thinks the letters represent how weak and scared Wilson was at the beginning of the war. Henry thinks keeping the letters gives him some power over Wilson and if he has them he can also avoid any conversation about what happened to him the previous day. “He now rejoiced in the possession of a small weapon with which he could prostrate his comrade at the first signs of a cross-examination. He was master. It would now be he who could laugh and shoot the shafts of derision.” (Crane 15.9) This is very selfish of him because he knows Wilson already feels ashamed of giving Henry the letters and instead of being a kind friend and giving the letters back Henry is selfish and keeps them to benefit himself and to make himself look superior over Wilson. Once again Henry does the thing that he thinks is best for him, he doesn’t care if it hurts Wilson or anyone else as long as he is happy.
• The last example of Henry’s selfishness is when he carries the flag just because he doesn’t want Wilson to look like a better man than him. “The youth and his friend had a small scuffle over the flag. "Give it t' me!" "No, let me keep it!" Each felt satisfied with the other's possession of it, but each felt bound to declare, by an offer to carry the emblem, his willingness to further risk himself. The youth roughly pushed his friend away. “ (Crane 20.3) Henry and Wilson started fighting over who got to carry the flag. Whoever carried the flag was risking their life even more than the soldiers that were just fighting. The soldier that carried the flag also got more glory and honor than the other soldiers. This is a very good example of Henry’s selfishness, because he pushes his friend out of the way, not because he cares about his friend and doesn’t want him to risk his life by carrying the flag, but because he wants to seem braver and manlier than Wilson and he wants to receive the glory and feel like he is better than all the other men that are fighting.