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To me, courage and heroism are the abilities to stick to one’s own beliefs and to fight for them.  It is one’s ability to stand up for who they are no matter what the situation they are put in to.  It is one who doesn’t run when things don’t go their way, one who will fight for themselves and for others in an attempt to bring about love, strength and their own ideals.

In chapters 5-8 of the Red Badge of Courage, the enemy soldiers attack Henry and the others of his troop.  Henry fights and eventually the other troop begins to retreat.  At this moment, the soldiers feel like heros, they feel courageous because they defeated an army which they didn’t know was coming.  But soon the enemy troops come again to battle and they feel like they can not win.  Henry feels frightened, he is awed at the other armys ability to just keep coming and he runs away.

Henry feels guilt at running away, a cowardice thing to do and he begins to attempt to justify it within himself.  His need for self assurance shows that he is egotistical when he says that when it comes down to it, he did the right thing by running because he was protecting himself and the future of his troops.  For without him, what would happen to the army?

Henry is not a hero, he runs away from battle, “Directly he began to speed toward the rear in great leaps.  his rifle and cap were gone.”  Within literature, the hero has always been the type who sticks through, who never runs, no matter what the situation.  Beowulf was a hero, Hercules was a hero, even Huckleberry Finn ended up being a hero to his friend Jim.  Henry is not, because he not only ran, but he tried to redeem runing within himself, he can be thought of as cowardly at this point and time in the novel.

The movements of realism and naturalism began in music and art but were not limited to those areas.  It’s beginning was brought about by musicians like Umberto Giodarno, an opera writer who wrote in the realistic style.  Realism was born out of the romantic era and it’s style is self-explanitory. Rather than making things out to be more than they are, or writting falsely, realists take their work and write, paint or compose in actuality. 

In art, realism is still a very common style.  It’s battle against the Romantic style has been ongoing and is held through artists such as Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin and Gustave Courbet who painted still lifes and landscapes as acurately and detailed as possible. 

Realism then moved into literature around 1789.  It was first made big with the author Honoré de Balzac who was hailed as the grandfather of this movement within literature.  Balzac wrote with incredible attention to detail, turning a normal scene within a story into a mystical, secondary land for the reader to escape into.  His attention to detail and description became a staple for realist authors to follow. While his writting style fit nicely into the Realist movement, his plots did not.  With timeless stories of crime and conspiracies, his stories took on the role of the Romantic plots.

Gustave Flaubert wrote in a truly Realistic way.  He was not just a realist, he was an anti-Romantic.  Writting tales of adulterous women and suicide in 1857 his novel Madame Brovary became a staple for realist novelists around the world. 

Naturalism and realism are very much both alike.  Naturalism is noted as being an extension on the old form of realism, in other words, it is an updated and modern form. The founder, Emile Zola argues that it is not merely an extension.  He says that his contribution to literature is a new idea on the creation of characters and their characteristics, he also uses plot of the scientific method.  He says that his work is like observing  true human behaviors by taking a carefully made character and putting them into a carefully defined environment in order to observe the reactions.  He also puts emphasis on people in groups to illustrate the ideals of society.

1. Tangible: Uniform (pg 14), Cigars (pg 15), Guns (pg 15), Tents (pg 17), Pipe (pg 19)

   Intangible: Self Doubt (pgs 13-14), Anger (pg 14), Dependency (pg 12), Sorrow (pg 16), Memories (pg 17)

2. Tangible:.A watch to keep time and watch for when the school ball rings; A pencil to write with; Keys to get inside the apartment building I live in and check the mail; post-its to write down important informatlion; mascarra to keep in my purse; breath mints in purse for after dinner dates; hand sanatizer to avoid germs; Ibuprofen; chapstick because winter sucks; hair-tie or else I’d go crazy; waterbottle for when I’m thirsty; Wallet with my I.D. in case the fuz are after me; subway card for those oh-so-wonderful deals; Social Security card because I still haven’t memorized it (hope my wallets never stolen)

Intangible:Love for friends, family and all else in the world around me; hope for a happy peaceful future; Fear of what tomorrow will bring; anger; determination to someday make a difference.