Henry vs. Forrest

In times of crisis, our instinctual reaction of self saving is threatened and we either choose to take flight or fight. My class has been reading a book called The Red Badge of Courage, and have been studying how Henry's biggest question about war was if he would stand and fight or if he would run away from a fight.  In the end, he ended up running away....  In some ways Forrest Gump and Henry are very alike because they both ran away from the fight.  They ran as fast as they could trying to save their own lives. But one specific thing makes them different.  Even though they both ran from the fight, Forrest Gump was heroic in his act of running.

In the book, The Red Badge of Courage, the book described him as running like a rabbit, proverbial chicken, and a blind man.  I think this is because when he ran, nothing could stop him. This wasn't because he was ordered to, but because he didn't really know what to do. He ran as hard and as fast as he could, running out of full fear of the battle. He never turned back, he only ran forward, oblivious to his 'brothers', only thinking of himself.

In the movie, Forrest Gump, Forrest ran away from the battle because of orders from his commander.  But what made Forrest different from Henry was that he turned back when he realized he was alone.  He didn't let his fear for himself control his actions, he let his fear for his 'brothers' control him.  This lead him to run back for them, risking his life, to go and save them.  He saved many lives that seemed to have been doomed.  Making him a hero, even though he ran.

So even though both Forrest and Henry both ran away from the fight, they both ran differently.  While Henry ran as a coward, Forrest ran as a hero because he didn't run to save himself, but to save his fellow friends.  In this way, they are very different.