Traditionally, war and gore alike are not taken lightly in literature. Writing commonly uses death as a device to convey sorrow and fear. However, author Stephen Crane exemplified gore in war by using a neutral tone and avoiding directly addressing death (a common subject within the poem). He paints scenes that implicate someone has been killed such as someone throwing their hands up in a desperate attempt at surrender or a horse who has just witnessed the murder of its rider “Your lover threw wild hands toward the sky and the frightened steed ran on alone” (Crane). Forcing the reader to address death in a passive tone and not allowing them to sympathize with the victims creates the illusion that the readers themselves are dehumanizing the