Discuss the youth's reactions during the battle, while providing direct quotations to support your discussion. Why does he flee? Why does he feel self-pity?
I believe that Henry ran away from the battle because he was afraid to die. I also think that Henry ran because he was convinced that his regiment was about to be annihilated. “He had fled, he told himself, because annihilation approached. He had done a good part in saving himself, who was a little piece of the army. He had considered the time, he said, to be one in which it was the duty of every little piece to rescue itself if possible.” (Page 511)
The guilt of having run away overwhelms Henry. While Henry walks along, his brain is in a fit of agony and despair. He goes into a thick wood, trying to hide himself. The underbrush is thick, and he travels slowly. He keeps going and going into the darkness. Soon the sound of the guns is faint. He notices more things of the forest the sun, insects, and birds. Henry is relieved and relaxed by the landscape. It carries a sense of peace. He throws a pine cone at a squirrel, which runs away in fear. “The squirrel, immediately upon recognizing danger, had taken to his legs without ado. He did not stand stolidly baring his furry belly to the missile, and die with an upward glance at the sympathetic heavens. On the contrary, he had fled as fast as his legs could carry him; and he was but an ordinary squirrel, too—doubtless no philosopher of his race.” (Page 512) This clamed Henry because the squirrel did the same thing as him and he thinks that human and nature are one. “The youth wended, feeling that Nature was of his mind.” (Page 512)
Later Henry sees a column of infantry moving in the other direction, toward the battle. This fills him with misery. He feels he can never be like these men, who are filled with glory. But then for a few moments, he wants to join them, and he visualizes himself doing great deeds on the battlefield.
Levi J. Henry was very happy and excited after the battle and felt heroic. He was heroic in the way he fought for his country, but he only wanted to feel that feeling of heroism once and return home safely. Henry was not expecting that there would be another battle so soon and he accepts the responsibility of going into battle grimly. Henry sees other men leaving the battlefield and begins to run away. During the time he runs away he says things like "What manner of men were they, anyhow? Ah, it was some wondrous breed! Or else they didn't comprehend-the fools." He believes be is super for running away because he is smart and wants to live. Henry feels self-pity because he feels why should he be the one to die, he doesn't deserve to die, and doesn't come to accept that that is what happens in war, people die. Henry never thought he would be one of those men and the thought overwhelms him and he runs away from the battle.
Bree R. Henry goes into his next battle once again not knowing what to expect. When the bullets start wizzing by him and he realizes he can either meet his fate or save him self, he seriously starts to consider his options. "Others began to scamper away through the smoke. The youth turned his head, shaken from his trance by this movement as if the regiment was leaving him behind. He saw the few fleeting forms."(pg. 508) At the point Henry feels like running away is suddenly justified because everyone else seems to be doing it. After Henry runs off he finds him self getting deeper into the forest and away from all the noises of battle. When he reaches this place of quiet he calms himself down and takes in the nature, and begins to think about his decision to run away. He throws a pine cone at a squirrel, and when it scampers off he uses the squirrels fleeing reaction to justify his reaction of running away, saying that he is now one with nature. Later when he begins to wonder on he climbs a wall that takes him to a place with many wonded and dead soldiers, this brings many thoughts to his head. "At times he regarded the wounded soldiers in an envious way. He conceived persons with torn bodies to be peculiarly happy. He wished that he, too, had a wound, a red badge of courage." (pg. 518) When he walked through and saw all these men he started to feel especially guilty, all these men where laying here dying or severly wounded because they fought and did something heroic, and he was walking through unharmed, because he was too afraid to stay and fight. I think he was jealous of the men because they had a reason to not be fighting, and the other men in the regiments would not see them as cowardly because they had been wounded or killed. Henry knew that if he went back to camp that the men would see him as a coward and would not give him any respect. He then became very angry with himself for making this decision to run away, because now he had to own up to being a chicken.
Henry thought they had caught a break after the first fight and felt amazed and heroic. He also felt closer to many of the other soldiers, but then one of the soldiers said “Here they come ag’in! Here they come ag’in (506).” The soldiers once again prepared there selves to fight. Henry did not believe that it was happening again and was expecting something else. “He waited as if he expected the enemy to suddenly stop, apologize, and retire bowing (507)”. This obviously did not happen. When he accepted the fact that he may be fighting he became very nervous. “His neck was quivering with nervous weakness, and the muscles of his arms felt numb and bloodless (507)”. He shot one time and then noticed others scampering away and noticed that it seemed that they had no shame while fleeing, so he took the chance and he also began to flee. I think the reason for him feeling the self-pity is because he turned his back on the war and left some of his fellow soldiers out there to fight for him and the others that scampered away. I think he also felt shamed and cowardly because he ended up running away from the war after all the time he spent trying to convince himself not too.
The youth in this stories reaction is typical of what you would expect of him to do. Once the first part of the battle is over, the youth thinks that it is all done and he is very thankful for being alive and he thinks that he as passed the "supreme trial". But he soon finds that the battle is in fact not over and it is going to be worse than before. Before he can even comprehend what is going on he sees that the people around him are starting to flee so he decides that it is right to flee. He is running as fast as he can, understanding along the way that it was a race for survival, and when he finds people that are staying and fighting, he thinks that they are foolish. Finally after running for a while, he spots the general in charge and sits back to listen. When listening to the general he discovers that the other soldiers had fought back and held the line. This is when he starts to feel the self-guilt that he had fled even though the line had held and he would have most likely been fine.
After discovering this, Henry is very sickened and runs into the forest. He runs until he can no longer hear the battle going on. Once he is deep in the woods, he sees a squirrel and throws a pine cone at it, after seeing the squirrel flee, he is somewhat overcome with joy. He understands that the squirrel "fled as fast as his legs could carry him", just as he had.
I agree with what Levi is saying. Henry was not expecting to have to fight another time and he was already "happy and excited" to have made it out of the battle alive. But then when the bullets start to fly again he is caught by surprise and doesn't know quite what to do. The only thing that he could come up with was running away from the scene because he saw other men like himself running away. Once he is running away he thinks that he is superior to the other stupid soldiers that are staying back and fighting. He believes that he is now suddenly in a race with the others and the slower you are, the quicker the enemy is going to kill you. I however disagree with what he said about him feeling self-pity because he feels he shouldn't be the one to die. I think that he feel self-pity because he ran away like a coward while most of the other men fought and stayed at the line and would eventually defeat the Confederates.
Sarah M. After a small skirmish with the rebels, Henry feels on top of the world. He stood his ground and fought alongside the other men. He believed "the red, formidable difficulties of war had been vanquished" (506). He didn't expect to be faced with another battle so soon. He begins to see other soldiers running from battle and felt as though "destruction threatened him from all points" (508). As he flees from battle he suddenly realizes that "it is better to view the appalling than to be merely within hearing" (508). As the battle rages on behind him, Henry seems almost hypocritical in his thoughts. He comes upon a general who is calmly surveying his troops from afar and wants to tell him how criminal it was "to stay calmly in one spot and make no effort to stay destruction" (510). I think Henry came to the conclusion that his regiment would only survive if they all fell back like he did. To me, it seems as though he mistook his courage for fearlessness. He was not acting like the hero he so dreamed of. He began to feel "a dull, animal-like rebellion against his fellows, war in the abstract, and fate grew within him" (511). Henry turned to nature to justify his cause of running away such as the squirrel that scampered from dangerous pine cone he threw at it. I think Henry is missing the point that to be a hero in the war only means to follow orders and fight to the death, no matter the circumstances.
Kailey D.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Henry ran away from the battle because he was afraid to die. I also think that Henry ran because he was convinced that his regiment was about to be annihilated. “He had fled, he told himself, because annihilation approached. He had done a good part in saving himself, who was a little piece of the army. He had considered the time, he said, to be one in which it was the duty of every little piece to rescue itself if possible.” (Page 511)
The guilt of having run away overwhelms Henry. While Henry walks along, his brain is in a fit of agony and despair. He goes into a thick wood, trying to hide himself. The underbrush is thick, and he travels slowly. He keeps going and going into the darkness. Soon the sound of the guns is faint. He notices more things of the forest the sun, insects, and birds. Henry is relieved and relaxed by the landscape. It carries a sense of peace. He throws a pine cone at a squirrel, which runs away in fear. “The squirrel, immediately upon recognizing danger, had taken to his legs without ado. He did not stand stolidly baring his furry belly to the missile, and die with an upward glance at the sympathetic heavens. On the contrary, he had fled as fast as his legs could carry him; and he was but an ordinary squirrel, too—doubtless no philosopher of his race.” (Page 512) This clamed Henry because the squirrel did the same thing as him and he thinks that human and nature are one. “The youth wended, feeling that Nature was of his mind.” (Page 512)
Later Henry sees a column of infantry moving in the other direction, toward the battle. This fills him with misery. He feels he can never be like these men, who are filled with glory. But then for a few moments, he wants to join them, and he visualizes himself doing great deeds on the battlefield.
Levi J.
ReplyDeleteHenry was very happy and excited after the battle and felt heroic. He was heroic in the way he fought for his country, but he only wanted to feel that feeling of heroism once and return home safely. Henry was not expecting that there would be another battle so soon and he accepts the responsibility of going into battle grimly. Henry sees other men leaving the battlefield and begins to run away. During the time he runs away he says things like "What manner of men were they, anyhow? Ah, it was some wondrous breed! Or else they didn't comprehend-the fools." He believes be is super for running away because he is smart and wants to live. Henry feels self-pity because he feels why should he be the one to die, he doesn't deserve to die, and doesn't come to accept that that is what happens in war, people die. Henry never thought he would be one of those men and the thought overwhelms him and he runs away from the battle.
Bree R.
ReplyDeleteHenry goes into his next battle once again not knowing what to expect. When the bullets start wizzing by him and he realizes he can either meet his fate or save him self, he seriously starts to consider his options. "Others began to scamper away through the smoke. The youth turned his head, shaken from his trance by this movement as if the regiment was leaving him behind. He saw the few fleeting forms."(pg. 508) At the point Henry feels like running away is suddenly justified because everyone else seems to be doing it. After Henry runs off he finds him self getting deeper into the forest and away from all the noises of battle. When he reaches this place of quiet he calms himself down and takes in the nature, and begins to think about his decision to run away. He throws a pine cone at a squirrel, and when it scampers off he uses the squirrels fleeing reaction to justify his reaction of running away, saying that he is now one with nature.
Later when he begins to wonder on he climbs a wall that takes him to a place with many wonded and dead soldiers, this brings many thoughts to his head. "At times he regarded the wounded soldiers in an envious way. He conceived persons with torn bodies to be peculiarly happy. He wished that he, too, had a wound, a red badge of courage." (pg. 518) When he walked through and saw all these men he started to feel especially guilty, all these men where laying here dying or severly wounded because they fought and did something heroic, and he was walking through unharmed, because he was too afraid to stay and fight. I think he was jealous of the men because they had a reason to not be fighting, and the other men in the regiments would not see them as cowardly because they had been wounded or killed. Henry knew that if he went back to camp that the men would see him as a coward and would not give him any respect. He then became very angry with himself for making this decision to run away, because now he had to own up to being a chicken.
Mashayla C.
ReplyDeleteHenry thought they had caught a break after the first fight and felt amazed and heroic. He also felt closer to many of the other soldiers, but then one of the soldiers said “Here they come ag’in! Here they come ag’in (506).” The soldiers once again prepared there selves to fight. Henry did not believe that it was happening again and was expecting something else. “He waited as if he expected the enemy to suddenly stop, apologize, and retire bowing (507)”. This obviously did not happen. When he accepted the fact that he may be fighting he became very nervous. “His neck was quivering with nervous weakness, and the muscles of his arms felt numb and bloodless (507)”. He shot one time and then noticed others scampering away and noticed that it seemed that they had no shame while fleeing, so he took the chance and he also began to flee. I think the reason for him feeling the self-pity is because he turned his back on the war and left some of his fellow soldiers out there to fight for him and the others that scampered away. I think he also felt shamed and cowardly because he ended up running away from the war after all the time he spent trying to convince himself not too.
The youth in this stories reaction is typical of what you would expect of him to do. Once the first part of the battle is over, the youth thinks that it is all done and he is very thankful for being alive and he thinks that he as passed the "supreme trial". But he soon finds that the battle is in fact not over and it is going to be worse than before. Before he can even comprehend what is going on he sees that the people around him are starting to flee so he decides that it is right to flee. He is running as fast as he can, understanding along the way that it was a race for survival, and when he finds people that are staying and fighting, he thinks that they are foolish. Finally after running for a while, he spots the general in charge and sits back to listen. When listening to the general he discovers that the other soldiers had fought back and held the line. This is when he starts to feel the self-guilt that he had fled even though the line had held and he would have most likely been fine.
ReplyDeleteAfter discovering this, Henry is very sickened and runs into the forest. He runs until he can no longer hear the battle going on. Once he is deep in the woods, he sees a squirrel and throws a pine cone at it, after seeing the squirrel flee, he is somewhat overcome with joy. He understands that the squirrel "fled as fast as his legs could carry him", just as he had.
I agree with what Levi is saying. Henry was not expecting to have to fight another time and he was already "happy and excited" to have made it out of the battle alive. But then when the bullets start to fly again he is caught by surprise and doesn't know quite what to do. The only thing that he could come up with was running away from the scene because he saw other men like himself running away. Once he is running away he thinks that he is superior to the other stupid soldiers that are staying back and fighting. He believes that he is now suddenly in a race with the others and the slower you are, the quicker the enemy is going to kill you. I however disagree with what he said about him feeling self-pity because he feels he shouldn't be the one to die. I think that he feel self-pity because he ran away like a coward while most of the other men fought and stayed at the line and would eventually defeat the Confederates.
ReplyDeleteSarah M.
ReplyDeleteAfter a small skirmish with the rebels, Henry feels on top of the world. He stood his ground and fought alongside the other men. He believed "the red, formidable difficulties of war had been vanquished" (506). He didn't expect to be faced with another battle so soon. He begins to see other soldiers running from battle and felt as though "destruction threatened him from all points" (508). As he flees from battle he suddenly realizes that "it is better to view the appalling than to be merely within hearing" (508). As the battle rages on behind him, Henry seems almost hypocritical in his thoughts. He comes upon a general who is calmly surveying his troops from afar and wants to tell him how criminal it was "to stay calmly in one spot and make no effort to stay destruction" (510). I think Henry came to the conclusion that his regiment would only survive if they all fell back like he did.
To me, it seems as though he mistook his courage for fearlessness. He was not acting like the hero he so dreamed of. He began to feel "a dull, animal-like rebellion against his fellows, war in the abstract, and fate grew within him" (511). Henry turned to nature to justify his cause of running away such as the squirrel that scampered from dangerous pine cone he threw at it. I think Henry is missing the point that to be a hero in the war only means to follow orders and fight to the death, no matter the circumstances.