The Courage Of Courage Movie Analysis

Improved Essays
A common theme in most of the works that we have read is how far courage can press a man to maintain his honor and pride, and how quickly fear can destroy it. In war, a soldier is defined by his own pride. A soldier has nothing if he does not honor of himself and his country. The only way to create this sense of pride is through fighting bravely in the war. Courage is what drives a man to go into war for his country. However, once fear enters a soldier’s thoughts, his pride is destroyed.
Fear can cause a man to go insane in a war. It is the one thing that can take a strong soldier and turn him into a coward. To earn his honor, a soldier must find a way to overcome fear with courage. In many of the texts we have read, soldiers strive
…show more content…
Feraud feels that he must kill D’Hubert to satisfy himself. He continues to attempt to duel D’Hubert, even if he must end up dead because of it. The director in the movie skillfully captures Feraud’s sense of integrity. From their first duel, Feraud demonstrates a high level of confidence. He engages in each duel convinced that he will win. The movie depicts this in a way that a book never can. Just from looking at Feraud’s face, a viewer can tell that he is not afraid to fight. His first priority is not to protect his own life, but to protect his honor. In contrast, D’Hubert, at times, is extremely afraid, yet he continues to fight. He, like Feraud, will not let his honor be sullied by shying from a fight. The notion of honor can push a man to do foolhardy things. It can take over a man’s mind, forcing him to make poor decisions. I agree with what Feraud and D’Hubert were doing. A man is nothing if he has no honor or pride. Honor changes the way others will view a man, and having that in jeopardy can affect someone’s entire life. He may lose respect from everybody in his everyday life. Not only that, but it changes the way a man feels about himself. It takes away all self-confidence, leaving him nothing. A man cannot act the same way when he does not have any self-confidence. Feraud portrays this at the end of the movie. D’Hubert has Feraud at gunpoint, but lets him live. He does this even after Feraud begs D’Hubert to kill him. He is nothing without his honor, which is lost if he cannot defeat D’Hubert. This end scene also proves D’Hubert’s only goal was to keep his own honor. He had no real intention of killing Feraud, but he had to fight to hold onto his

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    War will take its toll on a soldier. In the novel “All Quiet on the Western Front” by Erich Maria Remarque, the soldiers of Second Company come out of the war damaged in many ways which are almost unpreventable. Their bodies are hurt, their minds are full of fear and they are eventually molded to think that being surrounded death is a normal day to day thing. The soldiers relationships with people and places are destroyed their generation is lost. War leaves them alone and afraid.…

    • 1239 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien: Emotional Burden of Death In the book “The Things They Carried”, Tim O’Brien uses figurative language and symbolism to evoke certain emotions in readers and denote to the burden of death in the Vietnam War and the effects it had on soldiers. The story, at first, appears to be about the tools and equipment soldiers physically must carry during war and combat, but it’s not that simple. In war, soldiers deal with life changing experiences that they will carry emotionally for the remaining days of their lives. O’Brien has strong way of depicting this emotional challenge of death to people through his short story.…

    • 973 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Although people think soldiers are characterized as tough killing machines, they are still humans with emotions, memories and lives beyond the military. According to soldiers, it is not easy being a soldier and living the life as a soldier. Life as a soldier has many struggles that people do not see and often go unaccounted for. This common dilemma comes to light in the short story “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien. The burden of war on soldiers is more than physical strain.…

    • 780 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Over a few centuries, post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) has been known by plenty of names: at first, it stood as “irritable heart” during the American Civil War; later during the First World War, the symptoms were called “shell shock” or “hysteria”. When the Second World War and the War in Korea occurred, the symptoms were labeled as “war neurosis”, “battle fatigue”, and “exhaustion.” Lastly, during the War in Vietnam, “Post Vietnam Syndrome” remained as the last occurrence of names given before PTSD was officially branded and categorized as a war mental illness. (Coleman 19) Although Hollywood has created numerous of films regarding WWII, Spielberg’s film, Saving Private Ryan, a war film praised for the realism of violence and battles—most…

    • 1685 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    As History shows us, war at times can be preventable and at time it is not. In the long run, war has an everlasting effect on soldiers whether it is directly or indirectly. In some cases, the horror of war is at time difficult for us to understand how men and women in the battlefield cope in times of fear. The poem "Facing it" by Yusef Komunyakaa allows us the readers to see what happen during and after the war, and what mentally goes through one 's mind in terms of how one copes with the war and how one deals with their mental breakdown during and after the war. The Poem "Facing It" demonstrates how the effect of war can most likely damage one 's life due to PTSD (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder).…

    • 1612 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Brilliant Essays

    The Red Badge of Courage share the same theme as Ecclesiastes 3:8—war. The Red Badge of Courage, written by Stephen Crane and published in 1895, “remains a masterpiece of literature about war” (Marshall, Donald G. Crane, Stephen). This book has also been “praised for its realistic portrayal of war” (Seidel). Crane was born in 1871 and died of a life-threating disease,…

    • 882 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Brilliant Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Jennifer Baer Grade 9 Mrs. Villanova American Literature 1 On Courage, Cowardice, and Masculinity One of the first sights that are thought of on the subject of war is death. More specifically, death caused by other men. In The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, the thoughts of individual American soldiers fighting in the Vietnam War are reflected upon, explicitly on what they did and did not execute during the Vietnam War. One of the main themes O’Brien includes is that, “Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to,” (O’Brien 21).…

    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Consequences of Corrupt Conflict All Quiet on the Western Front, a war novel written by Erich Maria Remarque, incorporates a plethora of similar and contrasting ideas to many other renowned war texts. With new machinery and combat techniques introduced for the first time during WWI, the battle Remarque writes about had far more casualties than anyone had ever anticipated. Machine guns, flamethrowers, and particularly poison gas took millions of lives on the battlefield. All of this, in turn, caused conditions to be vile in WWI. The authors of other war literature also illustrate how the harsh realities of war heavily impact soldiers, but they refer to different wars and accounts of war when doing so.…

    • 1857 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Defiance Movie Analysis

    • 359 Words
    • 2 Pages

    I really liked the movie Defiance. Tuvia Bielski was a very brave leader. He was able to lead not only his brothers, but 1200 other Jews to safety before the end of the war. I found it amazing that in the movie he just happened upon many of the Jews he helped. In all of the accounts I read on him, he was more organized and willing to go out of his way to get the Jews.…

    • 359 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    soldiers get scared in The Red Badge of Courage, but learning that others are scared to fight brings Henry a new found drive in fighting: hate. He hates the enemy, he wants to fight, and Henry aims to win. Courage can always be found in the strangest for these soldiers whether in letters or a photo because this is the reality that drives them to return home. Courage is not always an easy thing to come by, especially in war, and Crane does an amazing job depicting this in the realest sense possible. However, having fear is different than not having courage and Crane throws this throughout The Red Badge of Courage.…

    • 828 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Brian Turner is a United States Army veteran and American poet. In 2003, he served as an infantry team leader in the Iraq war. In 2005, Turner published his first book, Here, Bullet, a book of poems describing his experience during the war. In Here, Bullet, Turner uses a literary device, anaphora, descriptive language, and military jargon to describe his suffering and experience during the war—this is depicted through poetry. Analyzing different types of literature is crucial as well interesting; one can expand their knowledge regarding a particular topic.…

    • 1033 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Human Rather Than a Character The first thing that comes to mind while thinking about a soldier is a man wearing clean uniform with glittering gold badges. This man is courageous, fearless; he can run through mud while it’s raining, go into dark tunnels without having any fear. From this hypothetical soldier’s face, it can be understood that he is proud of serving his country and protecting the weak. This man who would do anything to save his compatriots, fights dauntlessly in the war zone, when all he can think about is his beloved wife and kids.…

    • 1355 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    War never changes, it only causes change in the lives of the people affected by its outcome. War brings expected physical weight upon soldiers, but physical weight is not the only burden that soldiers carry. Soldiers carry unexpected emotional burdens that can cause them to become distracted from the real danger which is war. Emotional burdens can also outweigh the weight of physical burdens. In The things they Carried, O’Brien illustrates how emotional burdens are a weight that cannot be escaped in life, demonstrated through the use of imagery, strong emotion symbolism, and the voice of the speaker.…

    • 1384 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This shows how harmful the war was to the soldier’s psyche, where all feeling seemed to become more intense and cause them to act rashly and try and control their…

    • 798 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Annotated Bibliography: The Things They Carried By Tim O’Brien Thesis: In “The Things They Carried”, the author, Tim O’Brien argues that the emotional burdens of fear, grief, terror, love and cruelty reality about war hardens the soldiers, and the psychological effects that these soldiers will have to carry for the rest of their life. "Looking Back at the Vietnam War with Author, Veteran Tim O’Brien." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web.…

    • 817 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays