The image of hero as reflected through henry fleming the main character of the red badge of courage by Stephen Crane

Oleh :
Farida Listyaningrum Mustafa - C1303019 - Fak. Sastra dan Seni Rupa

ABSTRAK The thesis entitle “The Image of Hero as Reflected through Henry Fleming the Main Character of the Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane” belongs to American Studies research which is multidisciplinary that needs several approaches which relate to each other to create the wholeness. The objectives of the thesis is to find out the image of heroism in the nineteenth century as reflected through the novel the Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. The research is a descriptive qualitative research in which the researcher has to analyze the data and then describe it. The source of data is the novel titled the Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. The main data are dialogues, narration of Henry Fleming (the Youthful Soldier) the main character and other characters such as Jim Conklin (the Tall Soldier) and Wilson (the Loud Soldier) who can support the subject matter. While the supporting data are articles taken from the books, web site from internet and so on. The research uses some approaches such as sociological approach, historical approach and cultural approach. Those approaches are related to each other and functions as a mediator to find out the image of heroism. The Red Badge of Courage is a psychological novel about an immature young boy named Henry Fleming who dreamt about heroism. He enlisted himself in the army military, and finally went to the battlefield. He found that everything was out of his imagination for he and his comrades spend the day by marching and moving here and there. After experiencing some tragic events he realized that he was not a hero, but he was just merely an ordinary man who had such feeling of fear, doubt and anxiety. After analyzing the data, the researcher drew conclusion that hero is not someone who is perfect, superpower man with strong body, and always wins fighting against the bad one, but hero is someone like anybody else. He can feel pain, fear, happiness, and doubt. He does something heroic and he is known for his achievement, like Henry Fleming who finally realized that he was only a man, not a hero