Analysis Of The Story Chickamauga By Ambrose Bierce

In the last two paragraphs of the story, the little 6 year old boy (told in omniscient-third person point of view) awakes from a deep nap in the woods, not immediately realizing that many “hours passed” or concluding that anything was peculiar or wrong. The “little sleeper rose to his feet,” noticing nothing but “the chill of the evening,” and the “gathering bloom of twilight” through his senses. The boy later conveys that “something in form of movement” starts to approach him. The boy describes these “moving objects” as “some large animal” that “he could not name.” This illustrates the very fact of the psychological uncertainty that the boy acquires, representing a lack of clarity or insight in his point of view. This element gives the reader a sense of mystery and fear, while simultaneously leaving them with anticipation and suspense.

However, the boy later indicates that these “animals” who would creep “upon their hands and knees” “dragging their legs” along the dirt, weren’t actually creatures, but rather “they were men.” This was the boy’s first interaction with the soldiers from war. The boy portrays the soldiers as “painted clowns” with them wearing blood stained attire and some whose faces were mangled, one being “with a face that lacked a lower jaw.” The boy does not recognize the soldiers as men due to his innocent point of view and therefore lack of knowledge of the world and the war around him. He interprets their appearances as being “unnatural” yet he did not fear them thus far, therefore thinking the entire encounter was similar to a harmless game. The boy has yet to realize that the soldiers are suffering in pure agony and pain from the violent battle, however he remains cautious and curious by walking with “an agile movement,” around the dying men. His perspective allows him to believe that the men’s agony is a pantomime, for which they are performing for his entertainment, which to him is a “merry spectacle.” However, seen from the boy’s perspective, his intent was not to be malicious when inadvertently stripping the soldiers of their human dignity, but rather his societal upbring is what prevents him from recognizing the true suffering of the men in war. The boy then expresses the fact that the soldiers reminded him of his “father’s negroes,” that would “creep on their hands and knees for his amusement.” The boy draws a parallel to this situation making him believe that “they were his horses,” as the father did. This further proves the case that his innocence and inability to fully comprehend the situation is seen as a detriment. It also explains why the boy ironically interprets a perfectly harmless encounter as frightening, while simultaneously mistaking a dangerous one, simply for a safe game. He later proceeds to disregard the fact of the dying soldiers, and walks away with his sword “companion,” blindly believing that in his mind, it was all just for his amusement and entertainment. The boy further shows through his perspective that not only his societal upbringing destructs his genuine understanding of the battle that the soldiers face in the story, but also that his naive and adolescent mindset plays a significant role in how the situation is interpreted from his standpoint. The boy’s many misconceptions of relevant points grow out of his interpretative incapabilities. In the story, the little boy is both a victim of the illusions portrayed in his society, as well as a subtle perpetuator of distasteful and cynical values it asserts.

Moreover, towards the end of the poem the boy acts as a heroic leader. After watching the injured soldiers struggle to continue on, as the early signs of daylight “fell upon their faces, touching their whiteness with a ruddy tinge,” the boy decides to head back towards familiar territory; home. As he is walking, he daydreams that he has transformed into a bold and courageous leader, waving “his cap for their encouragement and smilingly pointed his weapon in the direction of the guiding light – a pillar of fire to this strange exodus.” This scene distinctly displays how the boy’s perception of life, and ability to differentiate right from wrong, has been deeply distorted by the harsh society he has grown up in, where chivalry is nothing but a romantic illusion and that the significance of displaying dominance and power, overrules all moral values.