Quote 5
He
saw his vivid error, and he was afraid that it would stand before
him all his life. He took no share in the chatter of his comrades,
nor did he look at them or know them, save when he felt sudden suspicion
that they were seeing his thoughts and scrutinizing each detail
of the scene with the tattered soldier. Yet gradually he mustered
force to put the sin at a distance. And at last his eyes seemed
to open to some new ways. He found that he could look back upon
the brass and bombast of his earlier gospels and see them truly.
He was gleeful when he discovered that he now despised them. With the
conviction came a store of assurance. He felt a quiet manhood, nonassertive
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.
The novel ends with a declaration of
Henry’s development into a man of honor and courage—qualities that
Henry now sees quite differently from when he was an inexperienced
soldier. He now acknowledges that they do not require him to return
home “on his shield.” He no longer feels the need for “a red badge
of courage” to mark his prowess in battle. Ultimately, Henry’s courage
is linked to his ability to reflect on his life honestly. No longer
willing to let the mistakes he has made reside in the dark, remote
places of his consciousness, he considers them and their impact
on his character. By coming to terms with his wrongs, Henry, like
Wilson before him, realizes the importance of integrity. Aware of
life’s relative evanescence, Henry no longer clings to bombastic
notions of greatness. In touching “the great death”—that is, coming
to terms with his own mortality—Henry commences a new, more mature,
and truly more honorable phase of his life.
