Chickamauga

The child’s quest in this story can be seen as a kind of war in miniature. It begins, like many wars, with grand ideas about conquering and victory—ideas that are expressed in lofty, abstract language: “This weapon he now bore bravely, as became the son of an heroic race, and pausing now and again in the sunny space of the forest assumed, with some exaggeration, the postures of aggression and defense that he had been taught by the engraver’s art” (Paragraph 2). Also as with many wars, the child’s aim in going out in to the field is vague and sketchily thought out. He knows only that he wants to explore and conquer, and he feels entitled to do so because he has “war and dominion as a heritage” (Paragraph 1). This sense of entitlement arms him as much as does his home-made wooden sword.

The child’s quest soon becomes derailed by reality, however: first, the unexpected sight of a rabbit sends him into the woods, where he gets lost (and sleeps through an actual battle). Then, more seriously, the sight of wounded soldiers moving through the woods serves to turn