The Romanticization Of War In ¨chickamauga, By Ambrose Bierce

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In a heroic, grim, short story ¨Chickamauga,¨ (1863) Ambrose Bierce shows how the romanticization of war is different from its reality of death and destruction; Bierce uses symbolic imagery to reveal this irony of war. Bierce vividly illustrates the young boy ¨mounting the man like a horse,¨ similar to the way he had seen his father do, thinking of it as a game. The little boy is representing the newer generations of youth; in the sense that the younger people do not take things seriously. The little boy does not see the bigger picture which causes more desolation. The boy comes back from having fun in the woods, going for ¨the guiding light--a pillar of fire,¨ following the flame of victory. The young boy only knows what it is like to be