In “Chickamauga,” contrast the young boy’s viewing the scene of wounded and dying soldiers retreating from battle and his viewing the scene of his destroyed home and dead mother.

The boy is overcome with curiosity at the sight of the wounded and dying men, and he moves about unafraid. The men sparked his imagination and laughter. He didn't see dying men.... he saw a source of entertainment, men crawling like infants... men who seemed to him, like the clowns he'd seen in the circus. The boy moved with the men, enthralled by the experience, sometimes frightened and sometimes entertained.... at least until he came upon the source of light they were following, the burning of his home.

When the boy realized the scene before him was, in fact, his home burning, he momentarily stopped.... unable to move. The sight of his mother left him panicked and trembling, crying out unintelligibly for his mother, who lay before him. The time for play was over, and reality had set in.... all that the boy had seen was only seen, as he was a mute. His view of the dying men was surreal because he could only see their movements.... he couldn't hear their pain. The sight of his mother, in addition to the destruction of his home, brought the reality of the situation down upon him.