Henry's Observation Of His Own Emotions example essay topic

almost surprised at the sudden lack of these noises. Henry even asks out loud what will happen next. Eventually the regiment receives order to retrace its steps. The men get up slowly, stiff and groaning. They retrace the field they had run madly across just recently. The regiment reforms and marches, soon joining up with other troops.

They pass a house where other soldiers lay, waiting for more orders. Their march curves, giving them a view of the debris-strewn ground on which they have just fought. Henry says to his friend that it is all over. The youth reflects again. His mind is undergoing a subtle change. It takes him a moment not to think as if he were in battle.

He understands now that his shot / counters hot existence was in the past. He escaped the place of red blood and black passion. Eventually, he thinks with satisfaction and cohesion about his past actions. He can look at them like a spectator and criticize with some correctness.

Now, unlike before, he is un regretting. He feels good. Then, a few ghosts from his flight from the first battle dance before him. He blushes slightly about these. Another phantom, this one of reproach, come to him as he remembers the tattered soldier, who was so concerned for Henry's fabricated wound and Jim Conklin's sufferings. He begins to sweat and then lets out a cry.

Wilson, his friend, turns to him and asks what is wrong. The youth's reply is an outburst of crimson oaths. Whichever way his thoughts turn, they are encountered now by his memory of desertion. He looks at his companions, wondering if they see his emotions in his face. Yet they are too engrossed in discussion about the battles that happened that day.

For a time, Henry does not feel like he can join in. His thoughts are occupied with the tattered soldier and worrying that his fellow soldiers can see evidence of his past actions on his face. Yet, he eventually puts his sin at a distance. He now looks at his past bombast's and opinions of battle and is happy when he despises them. With this comes a sort of assurance. He feels a quiet manhood, a sturdy blood.

He knows that he will no longer doubt his inner guides. "He had been to touch the great death, and found that, after all, it was but the great death. He was a man". Henry leaves with his soul changed. It begins to rain, but he smiles nonetheless. It is a world for him.

He feels rid of the red sickness of battle. He is ready to turn to the peaceful images. Over the river they march beside, a golden ray of sun comes through the clouds. Chapter 24 Analysis: Henry finally finishes his inner journey during the course of this chapter.

He is no longer dealing with pressures of battle. With the admission that "it's all over", he is free from his constraints of attempting to guess the present or the future. He can now reflect on what he did in the past. At first, he feels that he is happy.

He basks in his accomplishments, and as he does he is bathed "in purple and gold". This new color combination is used in its historical connotation of royalty. Henry has now become a hero. Without much fanfare, from himself or others, but still he seems to ascend ranks with these colors. However, his good emotions hit a snag when he considers his flight.

New ghosts of shame and reproach come back to haunt him. As he thinks about his flight during battle and the tattered man who cared for him so much that he abandoned him, he goes as far to cry out and swear "crimson oaths" at his friend. The redness of battle has returned to him. He acts out of rage again, this time at his own past. Most importantly, though, he is concerned that his fellow soldiers can detect these emotions.

People's perceptions matter very much to him still. He is doing enough battle with his own head; he does not want to fight the words and emotions of others when they find his secret. He eventually puts the past in the past and does not let it bother his present state. In fact, he does this by looking back at his earlier thoughts of battle and fleeing. Note, however, that what we get is Henry's observation of his own emotions: "He was gleeful when he discovered that he now despised them [his old thoughts]". It is only by observing himself, and not putting so much importance on the view of others, that he can move beyond his old state.

Once he sees that he despises his old mind, he is finally described as being sure, steady, and "a man" (as opposed to earlier, when he was one of many "men" of the regiment). He can now leave the battlefield changed. And while he his no longer decorated in gold and purple when he leaves in the rain, the golden sunlight comes through the leaden clouds. These are the final colors we are left with. In the gray mysteries of life, there is greatness. And one must realize this for one's self.