Red Badge Of Courage

"Flight or Fight" response first described by a man named Walter Bradford Cannon. This is a persons mental reaction to a situation which either triggers then to stay and be the heroic individual or run and be perceived as cowardly. We all say what we would do if something traumatic happened to us, and we all would like to think we'd do the brave thing. When looking danger in dead on it is either all about saving yourself or putting your life on the line to save someone else. In the story the Red Badge of Courage Henry was faced with the fight or flight response.

When Henry was at the first battle Henry realized he had bit off more than he could chew. When you join the military you would think it's for all the right reasons. Being what they call a true American hero was the last thing from his mind. Henry was not prepared to put his life on the line and he ultimately made the that was timid and showed no bravery on his part. If Henry had stayed and fought who knows what would have happened but he decided that he would much rather stay alive then risk being killed or captured and tortured.
Not knowing the "what if" part of like scares people into not trying. All of Henry's fellow soldiers went out into that battle and they fought while he hid. Some men died and some made it alive but to then it just didn't seem fair that he got to run away from his duties as a soldier. Henry was a coward for running and people looked down on him for a while as they should have. As a soldier he is to serve and protect his county which he couldn't possibly do from somewhere