“It was like a blade cutting grain. He heard the bullets hitting the men-- little thunk-slaps-- and saw the men falling. Some of them screamed as they fell. Most were silent. Many were dead before they hit the ground. Many were torn apart, hit ten or twelve or more times before the had time to drop” (22). What is this hell that was just described above? These gruesome lines were taken from the novel, Soldier’s Heart by Gary Paulsen. The above quote describes what the main character, Charley Goddard, had seen during his first battle as a soldier in the Civil War. Through Paulsen’s writing, it is unbelievable what these men had to go through during this time. Death, disease, loss, pain, anything you can think of, the soldiers have had faced.
