Analysis

In a key passage in this chapter, Crane tells the reader that Henry “could hear the tattered man bleating plaintively.” Henry’s reaction to the tattered man’s whining is to abandon the disoriented soldier. Ironically, Henry doesn’t recognize that he has been the one doing the greatest bleating (if only internally). When he sees that same behavior in another person, he treats that behavior with disdain — unable or unwilling to show compassion or to see that same behavior in himself. Henry has sunk into a state of total self-absorption, the antithesis of the compassion required to be the courageous and honorable man he thinks he wants to be.

After abandoning the tattered soldier in the field, Henry realizes that he is also alone and abandoned. When Henry begins to wish for death, the reader can see that the tattered man’s question had pierced his soul. As Crane tells the reader, the question “asserted [represented] a society that probes helplessly at secrets until all is apparent. His late companion’s chance persistency made him feel that he could not keep his crime concealed in his bosom.” Henry remains selfish, introspective, fearful, and doubtful.

The sequence of emotions outlined in this chapter allows Crane to continue to reinforce both the instability of Henry’s mental condition and the themes of duty (specifically, the failure to do one’s duty) and doubt — both augmented by Henry’s feelings of guilt resulting from his fleeing.