The Reality Of War By Ambrose Bierce - 1254 Words

â€Å"The Reality of War† Death; destruction; crawling, bloody men without jaws; and a child in the middle of it is just a glimpse of the grotesque short narrative â€Å"Chickamauga† by Ambrose Bierce. Chickamauga Creek is an area near Chattanooga, Tennessee and northwestern Georgia, plagued by war, suffering, and bloodshed from the Civil War (Bohannon). Bierce served in the Union Army during the American Civil War (Campbell). Many Americans then, and today, romanticize war with glory, heroism, and patriotism. Bierce defied literary status quo, creating graphic accounts of war, in an age of sentimentalism and melodrama (Morris). Lesser publicized were the perspectives, thoughts, and realities of the soldiers after serving and surviving in the civil†¦show more content†¦The irrational mindset of leaders and generals in the Civil War led to needless bloodshed. Once the boy comes upon the soldiers retreating from battle, he pretends to lead them onward with his sword. The fact that he is pretending to lead them is significant in and of itself. Young men are thrown into war, and move up the ranks quickly due to causalities. They are often young and inexperienced, and catapulted into roles of leadership. Not having the experience to know how to be a leader, they pretend to be the leaders in the overdramatized, delusional war tales of heroism and patriotism, just as the boy did. He even tries to play with the soldiers, as they â€Å"reminded him of the painted clown whom he had seen last summer in the circus† (Bierce, 58-59). Just as inexperienced young officers enter the war with delusions of grandeur, oblivious of the realities of war, the boy is also oblivious of the grotesque situation he has come upon. The boy eventually found his way back to his home, which he found destroyed. Many of the leaders of the Civil War led their men acr oss their own country, bruised, bloodied and battered, only to return to their own homes, which were destroyed by war, as well. The boy looks at the creeping, bloodied men, and draws a connection to circus clowns, and his father’s slaves who would â€Å"creep upon their hands and knees for his amusement† (Bierce 59). The boy thought the retreating UnionShow MoreRelatedAn Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge By Ambrose Bierce1283 Words   |  6 Pages 1. â€Å"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge† by Ambrose Bierce Theme: Time can be the perception of each person at each different event in their life In this story one of the key factors is time and how Farquhar sees it.While mere seconds for the soldiers can be hours for the man about to be hanged, time is perceived to be different for each individual, â€Å"Its recurrence was regular, but as slow as the tolling of a death knell.† The idea that time can feel slower at one point and faster at anotherRead MoreAn Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge By Ambrose Bierce1283 Words   |  6 Pages 1. â€Å"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge† by Ambrose Bierce Theme: Time can be the perception of each person at each different event in their life In this story one of the key factors is time and how Farquhar sees it.While mere seconds for the soldiers can be hours for the man about to be hanged, time is perceived to be different for each individual, â€Å"Its recurrence was regular, but as slow as the tolling of a death knell.† The idea that time can feel slower at one point and faster at another throwsRead MoreThe Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge By Ambrose Bierce Essay1189 Words   |  5 Pagesline between Reality and Illusion In the story â€Å"The Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge† by Ambrose Bierce Peyton Farquhar a southern planter is being hung on a railing above the Owl Creek Bridge for interfering with the railroad posted by confederate soldiers. 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In the entry, evident themes include : reality verses imagination and deception, war, death and dying, and time. Some are expressed in the film clearly, while others are hidden to the untrained eye. Bierce laid a concrete foundation for the theme of reality verses imagination. The protagonistRead MoreAmbrose Gwinnett Bierce: A Brief Biography560 Words   |  2 PagesBitter Bierce When Bierce was a child, he did not attend school because as his family grew in the number, with a total of ten members and three more soon to join, the need for farm hands increased. As a result, he received very little proper schooling and tackled a mountain of chores rather than homework. Despite his lack of schooling, Bierce grew to have a love of literature and he borrowed volumes from his father’s small personal collection (â€Å"Ambrose†). Bierce’s love of literature followed him