Throughout history, war has offered opportunities for men and women to prove oneself. In The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane, the protagonist, Henry Fleming, “had, of course, dreamed of battles all his life of vague and bloody conflicts that had thrilled him with their sweep and fire,” (Crane 3). Henry does experience war in the Battle of Chancellorsville, but does not obtain the accolades he had dreamed of. Although, the experiences of war have undoubtedly changed people in the past, there is controversy between many critics on whether Henry Fleming himself has developed through his experiences in war. “Some critics view Henry’s journey as his initiation into manhood, others feel that he is turned away from the possibility of self-knowledge into self-serving egotism” (Plot 1). Several critics believe that Henry Fleming has been shaped by war, while various others feel that Henry Fleming has not matured and Cranes masterpiece is not a Bildungsroman.

 Initially, the novel The Red Badge of Courage, begins with a boy during the Civil War who has been blinded by the greatness that can be attained after battle. Henry “had burned several times to enlist. Tales of great movements shook the land…[and] he had read of marches, sieges, conflicts, and he had longed to see it all,” (Crane 3). When Henry finally enlists for the union side in the war he is surprised to see the only reaction he got from his actions was a “ ‘Henry, don’t you be a fool,’” from his mother (3).

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 Eventually, time for battle comes for Henry, but he loses his chance for honor by running from battle. He encounters the tattered man, a dying man from battle, but leaves him to his death in search for a way to obtain ultimate pride. Soon enough Henry receives his “Red Badge of Courage”, although his own ally gave it to him, while his ally was retreating from battle. In the next day’s battle Henry does fight, and earns himself self-pride, in a charge on the southern forces. Subsequently, The Red Badge of Courage concludes with Henry “preparing to resent some new monstrosity in the way of dins and smashes,” (Crane 97).

 Furthermore, the term Bildungsroman is derived from German, and is a genre that deals with the protagonist’s development into a mature state (Quinn 1). A Bildungsroman is a great literary technique that makes the main character more realistic and developed in the mind of the reader. It makes a character more lifelike because the main character will realistically change to an experience as a real person would. In addition, Bildungsroman is often used to show the importance of an event or experience to a character. A Bildungsroman does this by showing the extent of an events influence on the main character, hence if a main character is greatly changed by an event the event is important. In many pieces of literature the author makes the main character very childish, who would get into a difficult quagmire that can only be solved by ultimately altering the main character into a more experienced figure.

Additionally, many critics consider the novel The Red Badge of Courage a Bildungsroman. Generally, they believe this because Henry Fleming starts out particularly naïve and ends up tremendously altered following his encounter with war.

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 Moreover, critics have said he is a young boy who confronts the embarrassment, terror and the pandemonium of war, which makes him “ultimately matured by his exposure to pitched battle,” (Cumberland 1). It is lucid that Henry is incredibly juvenile in the beginning of the novel because “at times he regarded the wounded soldiers in an envious way. He conceived persons with torn bodies to be peculiarly happy,”(Crane 40). Clearly, this is immature because Henry does not feel remorseful for those who are dead or dying, instead he feels he has it the hardest and those who are dying are lucky because they have a war wound. One critic declares Henry’s development from an unintelligent child to an astute man, who understands the concepts of war, occurs when Henry apprehends his relative importance in the battle itself (Solomon 1). After this life changing realization Henry realized the impossibility of obtaining the rewards the ancient Greek heroes had obtained and is more focused now on the regiment, rather then himself. This is apparent towards the closing phases of the novel when Henry “suddenly lost concern for himself… He became not a man but a member. He felt that something of which – he was a part – a regiment, an army, a cause, or a country – was in a crisis” (Crane 25). Henry is now being considerably less selfish and much more conscious of the true rationale for the war. Near the conclusion of the novel Henry,

“felt a quiet manhood, non assertive but of sturdy and strong blood. He knew that he would no more quail before his guides wherever they should point. He had been to touch the great death, and found that after all it was but the great death. He was a man,” (99).

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Another, instance in which the idea of Bildungsroman is evident is when the narrator states, “the youth had been taught that a man became another thing in battle,” (19). Thus, Henry in the eyes of many critics has changed through his experiences in war.

Furthermore, a few critics consider the novel, not to be a Bildungsroman. They believe this because there is no clear development in Henry. Specifically, when “The youth went on. Turning at a distance…[Henry]… saw the tattered man wandering about helplessly in the field,” and then Henry walked away (Crane 46). This shows the puerile and carelessness of Henry, because he abandoned a dying man in the fields because he was troubled by some personal dilemma. If Henry really were mature he would have forgotten his own problems and at least attempted to help the feeble tattered man. Another critic says, eventhough Henry has faced his fears near the conclusion of the novel, Henry did this out of childish motives, such as wanting to come home a hero, or to obtain a flag that would make him a war hero and this should not be considered responsible (Walcutt 1). Therefore, Henry did not develop and the novel could not be a Bildungsroman.

 Conclusively, there is controversy over whether the novel The Red Badge of Courage is a Bildungsroman. While many critics strongly believe that the novel does show character development in Henry Fleming, there is strong opposition by other critics about Henry’s lack of development. Some critics believe that this novel is a Bildungsroman because Henry turns from a naïve young boy into a mature intelligent man. Meanwhile, other critics state that the young boy Henry Fleming starts out naïve but ends up reckless and selfish.