Ambrose Bierces Chickamauga Essay example -- Ambrose Bierce Chickamau

Ambrose Bierces ChickamaugaAmbrose Bierces pitiable story, Chickamauga, scrutinizes American values, specifically, Americas identifying with the natural world. Bierce is critical of the American association with divine destiny, which has manifested itself throughout register in the form of John Winthrops City upon a hill speech, the notion of the white mans burden, and Manifest Destiny. American history, in the scope of the short story, is champion of perceived rightly subjugation of others. Bierce satirizes this philosophy by use of the child as a manifestation of American values that are at long last shown to be feeble and weak.The opening paragraph summarizes American history in abstract terms It was happy in a new sense of exemption from control, happy in the opportunity of exploration and adventure for this childs spirit, in bodies of its ancestors, had for thousands of years been trained to memorable feats of discovery and conquest (455). The diction Bierce uses conveys a sense of warmongering and that war and conquest is what brings about memorable feats. The ever expanding frontier, the cross-continental explorations, and the colonizing of the West, though, are all draw by Bierce in terms of a delighted child going to play in the woods unabated and unobserved (Ibid). Bierce undermines the notion that American conquests in the past were grand exploits of a privileged and inspired people.Bierce also uses hyperbole in describing the childs playing in the woods. Though the child is merely playing war in his mind, Bierce describes him as a mightier conqueror and the mightiest (Ibid). This diction of grandeur is juxtaposed with the rabbit scaring the child away With a startled cry the child... ...nquest do not give triumph to one nation and defeat for another, but instead bring about defeat for all.Thus, Bierce satirizes American culture and the popular beliefs of destiny and natural superiority associated with his time. American history is s hown to be nothing more than a deaf and mute child roaming in the wilderness playing war games. The arrogant notion of superiority is described as feeble and ultimately destructive. Bierce calls upon Americans to view themselves with a kind of humility toward the natural world and its it place inside of it no longer should Americans see themselves as privileged, instead, they should become humbled.Works CitedBierce, Ambrose. Chickamauga. The Heath Anthology of American Literature Volume C Late Nineteenth Century 1865-1910. Ed. Suzanne P. Weir. Boston, New York Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006. 455-459.