The Red Badge of Courage

The flag serves the same function within the narrative of Crane’s novel as it serves on the battlefield: It is a symbol that the side one fights for has not been lost. Its bright and easily identified colors stand out from the murk and confusion of the battlefield, and while the person who wields it is vulnerable to death and interchangeable as a unit of battle, the flag itself is unreducible in this way. In the hottest moment of battle, Henry finds within himself “a despairing fondness for this flag which was near him […] Because no harm could come to it he endowed it with power” (84).

As on a battlefield, the flag stands out brightly from the narrative. When Henry is at his most alienated from the war, the flag appears far away. When Henry is at his most dedicated, his nearness to the flag becomes a lifeline, so much so that Henry achieves his highest ascent to bravery and selfhood by taking up the role of color guardsman himself, hoisting the flag amidst the gunfire.