Henry symbolizes the conscience of all of the other soldiers.
Henry faces many struggles with right and wrong throughout the whole book. One is when he finally gets in to the army he wants to go home. When Henry first realizes he “wants” to go to the army his mother doesn’t really want him to leave. He wonders is he doing the right thing? Every other soldier that enlists has to deal with the same thing. Every other soldier has somebody to go home to that misses them not only Henry. As Henry copes with his decision every other soldier thinks about the same thing. He depicts this in chapter 2 by saying "He wished, without reserve, that he was at home again."
The second dilemma Henry deals with is death. Everywhere Henry goes there are soldiers lying on the ground gazing into the sky with a glaze over their eyes. "To the youth the fighters resembled animals tossed for a death struggle into a dark pit." He can’t help but think that could be him. Every turn he takes he witnesses death. It’s one thing he just can’t get off of his mind. The first time he deals with death is when Wilson believes he is going to die in one of the first battles. He hands Henry a letter and tells him to give it to his family. Henry was left awestruck. The second dealing is with Jim. Jim was Henry's last friend and Henry watches him die. He then realizes he is alone. Henry is not the only one dealing with the fear of death. Every soldier that has someone to go home to doesn’t want to die. Even if they don’t have anyone to go home to they still don’t want to die.
The third dilemma Henry deals with is running. When the first battle takes place everyone is petrified, no one knows what to do. Henry sees death all around him and he himself doesn’t want to die. Henry contemplates mixed feelings in his head. To me this is what everyone else is feeling and thinking but we hear it directly from Henry. He finally decides he can’t take it any longer and "He ran like a blind man." Henry, however, is not the only soldier that runs away, many other soldiers run away with him. This helps prove my point by saying that those other soldiers were contemplating the same thoughts as Henry. When he finally gets away from the action Henry can’t believe he just did that. He ponders on the thought of did he let everyone down? What will everyone think of him? These are the thoughts of the other soldiers that ran but being displayed through Henry’s conscience.