Read the excerpt from Chapter 15 of The Red Badge of Courage

Last updated: 4/24/2023

Read the excerpt from Chapter 15 of The Red Badge of Courage He did not give a great deal of thought to these battles that lay directly before him It was not essential that he should plan his ways in regard to them He had been taught that many obligations of a life were easily avoided The lessons of yesterday had been that retribution was a laggard and blind With these facts before him he did not deem it necessary that he should become feverish over the possibilities of the ensuing twenty four hours He could leave much to chance Besides a faith in himself had secretly blossomed There was a little flower of confidence growing within him He was now a man of experience He had been out among the dragons he said and he assured himself that they were not so hideous as he had imagined them Also they were inaccurate they did not sting with precision A stout heart often defied and defying escaped Which key idea is developed in this excerpt Henry achieves a sense of payback and justice once O he takes his frustrations toward authority out on the enemy Henry discovers that the stories of war he had heard Ofrom fellow soldiers were either untrue or exaggerated Henry recognizes the benefit of thinking ahead and O intends to put this strategy into effect before the next battle Henry realizes that his illusions about the horrors of O fighting in battle were more frightening than the reality