A Fight to Lose Individualism to Conquer Ones Self
             Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage establishes individualism as an unfavorable quality. Group accomplishments are more important than that of the individual to get through a battle of war. And one must lose that identity in order to actually find one's self. Crane's main character, Henry, is portrayed as a youth in search of self worth and assurance. Crane creates Henry as an individual in a mass society. He establishes Henry as an individual because he gives him the ability to think for himself, but creates situations that halt his individualism in order for him to remain a part of his regiment. Crane injects him into the army with aspirations of attaining a sense of identity.
             Crane gives this character one thing that men ought not to do in this novel. He gives Henry the ability to think. Therefore, Henry looks past the glory of enlisting in the army and begins to question what could happen to him on the battlefield. He acknowledges the presence of something the other men dare not think about, which is death. With the realization that lives are at stake, he questions whether or not he will run when faced with battle. "It suddenly appeared to him that perhaps in a battle he might run. He tried to mathematically prove to himself that he would not run. He was forced to admit that as far as war was concerned he knew nothing of himself" (Crane 6). This confusion about his intrepidity leads him to question others. He wonders if the regiment feels the same way he does. He takes his questions to a soldier, Jim Conklin, so that he can feel more as a member of the regiment. Jim replies, "If a whole lot of boys started to run, why, I s'pose I'd start and run. And if I once started to run, I'd run like the devil, and no mistake. But if everybody was a-standing and a-fighting, why, I'd stand and fight" (Crane 8)....