Farewell To Arms Chapter 5 Essay

Henry fights with the other soldiers in the first battle, yet he runs from the scene when the second battle starts. There are many reasons why Henry fled the scene of the second battle instead of the first. Upon reading we find out that Henry has a false idea of courage and that all he wants to do is to return home as a war hero. Before becoming that Henry has to overcome fear and gain courage. According to the pre-text, Henry fleeing from the second battle is an act of self-preservation which is apparent in chapter 4 of the novel. Henry observes the other soldiers fighting for their lives while his regiment runs to avoid attack. In Chapter 5 you see a great change in Henry as he is faced with the image of battle. According to the text, Chapter 5 page 2, “before he had announced to himself that he was about to fight he threw the obedient, well-balanced rifle into position and fired a first wild shot. Directly he was working at his weapon like an automatic affair.” “He suddenly lost concern for himself, and forgot to look at a menacing fate. He became not a man but a member. He felt that
On page 2 of Chapter 5 it described what type of rage did he had gained. “He developed the acute exasperation of a pestered animal, a well-meaning cow worried by dogs. He had a mad feeling against his rifle, which could only be used against one life at a time. He wished to rush forward and strangle with his fingers. He craved a power that would enable him to make a world-sweeping gesture and brush all back. His impotency appeared to him, and made his rage into that of a driven beast.”(Crane 2). As a result of these two factors Henry grew confidence enough to fight the first battle with his regiment. Now the reason why he fled the scene of the second battle was because the results from war forced him to lose that confidence that he had at the beginning of the