Language

When analyzing the short story “Chickamauga”, it is important to look at the language employed by Ambrose Bierce, as it can deepen your understanding of the text.

The text is filled with descriptive language employed in depicting the wounded soldiers, their ghostly procession and the game of make-believe in which the little boy emerges. Here is just one example in which descriptive language is used to depict the boy and the direction towards he is headed:

“Made reckless by the ease with which he overcame invisible foes attempting to stay his advance, he committed the common enough military error of pushing the pursuit to a dangerous extreme, until he found himself upon the margin of a wide but shallow brook, whose rapid waters barred his direct adv...