Courage

People each have their own definition of courage. Authors will portray their idea of courage through their writing. Stephen Crane, the author of The Red Badge of Courage, displays his idea of what it means to be courageous through his character of Henry. The author of Moby Dick, Herman Melville, displays his belief of what courage is with his characters of Captain Ahab and Starbuck. Tim O'Brien, the author of The Things They Carried, shows his idea with himself as an example. I believe that courage is facing your fears, and going ahead and doing what you need to accomplish goal. The piece of writing that best fits my definition is The Things They Carried.
In the Red Badge of Courage, Stephen Crane believes that courage is facing your fears and acknowledging your faults to yourself. In his book, Henry faces his first combat situation, and conquers his first fear by firing the first shot of the fight. As the battle proceeds, Henry “suddenly lost control of himself, and forgot to look at a menacing fate.†He became like a machine, firing continuously. This was followed a by anger. He ignores the possibility of death, and continues to fight. Later in the story, he runs away form the battle, and does not feel reconciled until he acknow

O'Brien thinks that to be courageous, you must do what you believe in, even if others don’t agree. If what you believe in is the right thing to do, than I agree with that. But if doing what you believe in is going against not only common sense, but what is commonly considered the right thing it do, then I feel that it is the best example of being courageous. The most recent example that best represents my idea of courage was during 9-11. The firefighters and police officers who went into the disaster that once was the trade towers looking for survivors. They knew that the wreckage was unstable, and could collapse on them any minute. They knew that more of their own had already died when the towers collapsed. These people knew that at any minute, the entire mess could crash down on them, and wipe out the entire rescue force. What was a true display of courage was when these same people continued to search the mountain of rubble for weeks afterwards. They knew that they were looking in a dangerous area for bodies only, and yet they struggles day and night to recover any remains they could. That, to me, is the greatest display of courage I have seen in any book, movie, or news story. Men and women who worked because the job needing doing. They knew what could happen. They knew that there was the possibility of death. And most likely, almost all were afraid. They did their job anyway. Because it was the right thing to do.

Where Cane believed that you must acknowledge your faults to be courageous, Melville believes that you must face great odds, even facing death. In Moby Dick, Captain Ahab chases after the white whale, even though the chances of actually killing him are slim. Also, the odds are against him in finding one whale amidst the entire ocean. Ahab had been injured, by Moby Dick earlier in life, but he still chased him down. He did not let his incapacitated sate slow him down in the least bit. Starbuck, the First Mate of the Pequod, Ahab’s ship, does not believe that they should hunt just the one whale. He says as this to Ahab, even thought the entire crew of the ship had sided with Ahab. He spoke his mind, even when Ahab refuse