Red Badge of CouragePhysical and emotional pain is what the tattered solider illustrates in the book. The tattered solider pain comes from all of the horrible things associated with war. Him going crazy brings emotional pain and the physical pain is brought on by the endurances of war.
“There was a tattered man, fouled with dust, blood and powder stain from hair to shoes, who trudged quietly at the youths side”. The tattered solider also characterizes the toughness people can endear. Even through the harshness of war people will find something inside of them, overcome it and not let it bother them. The tattered solider goes out and lives through the tough endurance’s of war but he finds something inside of him to live through it. The perfect solider is what Jim Conklin brings to the book.
Jim never complains about war and fights as good as the next man. Many of the people look up to Jim because he is so strong willed. The regiments almost look up to Jim in a spiritual way finding peace inside of them when they think of him. It is a tragedy when Jim dies because of all of the moral inspiration he gave the regiment. True to his character Jim dies a quiet and peaceful death not distributing any of the regiment. Wilson represents the two sides of human nature.
In the beginning of the book Wilson is a mean tough guy that no one liked. This outward act of being tuff is just a cover of the true nature of Wilson. It is natural for people to cover their true nature in front of new faces. Towards the end of the book Wilson starts to care about Henry.
hen Henry is injured and he doesn’t try and fight the other men anymore. True to human nature once times start getting more difficult and Wilson becomes more comfortable with his surroundings he transcends into the calm compassionate person he really is. All of the characters in the Red Badge of Courage represent some aspect of man either physically or emotionally. This connection between the characters and the reader make the book true to life and more believable. Since the characters feel so real, physically and emotionally, the reader has an easier time relating to them.
