Ambrose Bierces Chickamauga Essay - 1196 Words

Ambrose Bierces Chickamauga Ambrose Bierce’s short story, Chickamauga, scrutinizes American values, specifically, America’s identifying with the natural world. Bierce is critical of the American association with divine destiny, which has manifested itself throughout history in the form of John Winthrop’s â€Å"City upon a hill† speech, the notion of the â€Å"white man’s burden,† and Manifest Destiny. American history, in the scope of the short story, is one of perceived â€Å"rightly† subjugation of others. Bierce satirizes this philosophy by use of the child as a manifestation of American values that are eventually shown to be feeble and weak. The opening paragraph summarizes American history in abstract terms: â€Å"It was happy in a new†¦show more content†¦This image is important in that it shows that war, though thought in common culture as the supreme occasion of grandeur and bravery, also of subjugation, is really nothing more than a child’s exploit in the frightening unknown—frightening to the child who ventures into it, not because nature is itself frightening. Bierce is showing America as a child who cannot function in the natural world. Instinct in Bierce’s work is described as being â€Å"blind† (456). The landscape is at first covered in â€Å"undergrowth† that causes the child to struggle through (Ibid). However, the child eventually comes to realize that the â€Å"ground had been twice passed over—in advance and in retreat† (457). Here again Bierce plays with the popular notion that territory Americans conquered was virgin when in fact it had long been inhabited. The association of virgin territory representing defeat and surrender, all within the scope of instinct, shows Bierce’s work to be critical of another American belief and value. The instinctual desire to ever expand into territory is shown to be both blind and destructive. Once again, Bierce is critical of American subjugation. The powerful images of the battle the child stumbles upon are also used by Bierce as a way to satirize American culture of natural privilege and right. Bierce describes that â€Å"the very ground seeming in motion toward the creek† (456). TheShow MoreRelatedChickamauga. This essay is about Ambrose Bierces dark short story, Chickamauga.1398 Words   |  6 PagesChickamauga Ambrose Bierces Chickamauga is a disillusioned childs awakening. Literally, a six year old deaf boy is thrown into a most horrifically traumatic series of events. His story is relayed in the third person omniscient perspective through the eyes of the child as well as an elder. It takes place during the Civil War in a southern town. Chickamauga begins with the boys entrance into the forest where he goes to play solitarily. With him he carries a toy wooden sword with which he battlesRead MoreAnalyses of â€Å"Chickamauga† Analyzed947 Words   |  4 PagesAnalyses of â€Å"Chickamauga† Analyzed â€Å"Chickamauga† is short story by Ambrose Bierce that takes place in 1863 during the American Civil War. It is an anti-war narrative that also speaks to the evolution of humans in battle. A young child, the son of a veteran is the central character. Having grown up around war and being born of a soldier the child shows insensitivity to wounded men that few could understand. 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Many Americans then, and today, romanticize war with glory, heroism, and patriotismRead MoreLiterary Analysis of Chickamauga1349 Words   |  6 PagesSwift 1 Samuel Swift English 2312 Dr. Chuck Jackson 02/10/2011 Ambrose Bierce’s Twisted Naturalist Short Story â€Å"Chickamauga† The author of â€Å"Chickamauga,† Ambrose Bierce, created this short story as a naturalist visualization of the devastating effects that wars and battles had on the soldiers which fought in them. The short story â€Å"Chickamauga† is defined as naturalist literature because of the author’s employment of specific literary techniques which define naturalism, such as the way the authorRead MoreAmbrose Gwinnett Bierce: A Brief Biography560 Words   |  2 Pagesresult, 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 throughout his life from his first job as a printer’s devil, an apprentice at a printing establishment, to the rest of life as an underrated author. His literary creations were impart the products of his familyRead MoreThe Darkness Of Light By Ambrose Bierce1178 Words   |  5 PagesAmbrose Bierce was known as the â€Å"mist of light†. His stories were usually centered on civil war. It was usually a horror or supernatural story, but it could be a comic or tall-tale as well. Bierce’s â€Å"Chickamauga† is nothing short of a horror story. This story is known as one of the most powerful anti-war stories, and fits in with the literary criticism New Historicism. It is about a young boy around the age of 6 years, whose father had fought in the Civil War. We later find out that the young boy