In a civilization aimed at peace and freedom in life, one may find it astonishing to see how prominent war has been in the history of the human race. War, in its simplest form, is fighting- a practice sustained by humans for centuries. In today's society, fighting is glamorized and celebrated, everywhere from the Call of Duty games to the MMA and boxing leagues. However, war and fighting are only glamorized by the people who have not truly experienced them- a point well illustrated by author Ambrose Bierce. In his story "Chickamauga", Ambrose Bierce creates tension between the beliefs of the narrator and of the child, while including vital symbols, to display how the glamorization of war and fighting does not exist in people who have experienced
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First, there is the boy's sword; not only is it a primary symbol of the boy's interest in war, but it is also a symbol for anti-glamorization message set by the narrator. The exposition of the story reveals that the father of the boy is a war veteran, therefore, he should hold, relatively, the same beliefs on war as the narrator. When the boy presents the wooden sword to his dad, the father "would hardly have known it for what it was" (Bierce 1). This confusion between the father and his son originates from the battle between the glamorization and reality of war. In the boy's view, his tool for war was built as nothing more than a toy aimed at innocent play. However, the father cannot see or accept the sword in this light because, in his experience, a sword is deadly and evil, not playful. This further enforces the idea that the glamorization of war does not hold true in the people who have experienced them, but, instead, only in the people who have never been intimate with them. Important symbols can also be found in the physical characteristics of the boy. Since the boy represents the people who celebrate war, it is fitting that the boy is “deaf-mute, a fact which explains how the soldiers have managed to lay waste to his family’s plantation, fight throughout the area where he lay, and begin their retreat, all while he slept” (Brower). Due to the boy’s impairments he could not see the killing, the chaos, and the destruction of war, a consequence shared by all people who celebrate war causing them to be oblivious to the reality of
First, there is the boy's sword; not only is it a primary symbol of the boy's interest in war, but it is also a symbol for anti-glamorization message set by the narrator. The exposition of the story reveals that the father of the boy is a war veteran, therefore, he should hold, relatively, the same beliefs on war as the narrator. When the boy presents the wooden sword to his dad, the father "would hardly have known it for what it was" (Bierce 1). This confusion between the father and his son originates from the battle between the glamorization and reality of war. In the boy's view, his tool for war was built as nothing more than a toy aimed at innocent play. However, the father cannot see or accept the sword in this light because, in his experience, a sword is deadly and evil, not playful. This further enforces the idea that the glamorization of war does not hold true in the people who have experienced them, but, instead, only in the people who have never been intimate with them. Important symbols can also be found in the physical characteristics of the boy. Since the boy represents the people who celebrate war, it is fitting that the boy is “deaf-mute, a fact which explains how the soldiers have managed to lay waste to his family’s plantation, fight throughout the area where he lay, and begin their retreat, all while he slept” (Brower). Due to the boy’s impairments he could not see the killing, the chaos, and the destruction of war, a consequence shared by all people who celebrate war causing them to be oblivious to the reality of