Great fear can sometimes turn into great courage and self-confidence. Stephen Crane describes this fact brilliantly in his novel The Red Badge of Courage. This wonderfully written novel about learning self-identity and gaining confidence and courage is a great example of how fear can become courage. In the beginning of Crane's novel Henry has a fear of the unknown along with many other fears. He is going into battle and he has not been tested in such a way before. Henry's courage was eventually gained from experience and from confidence in himself and his regiment. This small transition from fear to courage leads many people to believe that they will have courage too if faced with another difficult situation. This novel gives many people who doubt themselves a way to see that their lives can too go through great changes just like Henry's. From all of the transitions and changes in Henry's journey it is shown that courage is gained only by overcoming fears through experience, encouragement, and maturity.
             Before the beginning battle Henry was very afraid of how he will act when faced with battle and whether or not he will overcome his fears. Most of the men are unsure of themselves and their courage levels because they have never had the experience of fighting on the front lines before. This statement is proven throughout the first few chapters leading up to the first battle. In the beginning of The Red Badge of Courage Henry is excited and overly confident about how he will react being faced with a war-like situation. But this was before he left and started preparing for battle. During Henry's long wait before the start of the battle he started doubting himself and being afraid about how he would react when being shot at compared to the rest of his regiment. Henry was wondering if he would run at the first sign of action. He was greatly torn up with worry about if he would stic
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