To Shoot or Not to Shoot – That is the Question

We are repeatedly told that war is terrible. We hear about it quite often in newspapers,

textbooks, video games, and many other forms of media. However, these seldom cause us to feel

anything but slightly amused indifference. Partly because they stay at an impersonal level providing

facts and figures, and partly due to the mass desensitization that we as a people have undergone. In the

two stories, the authors create a graphic and more personal image of how elegiac war truly is.

Jack London's War and Ambrose Bierce's A Horseman in the Sky take readers to a much more

personal and emotionally charged level. Both authors present protagonists faced with difficult, moral

decisions that will either cost them their life or allow them to continue living.

The protagonist in each story faces a difficult decision that determines the path their life will

take. The unnamed, probably Japanese soldier of War faces the decision to shoot or not to shoot the

ginger-bearded man. Choosing the latter option results in the path of his life being considerably

shortened. Carter Druse faces a similar predicament of whether to shoot his father or not. While

choosing the former may have extended Carter's path, it also filled it with such stumbling blocks as the

horrible guilt and mental anguish that come with committing patricide.

We can clearly see each protagonist struggling with the moral implications of the act they are

about to commit. Jack London shows the hesitation the unnamed soldier experiences before deciding

not to shoot, lowering his rifle and walking away. Ambrose Bierce also shows Carter’s hesitation before

remembering his father’s advice to do his duty and shooting the statuesque horseman.

In brief, both stories explore a more personal level of war not usually explored by media. In

doing so, they bring us closer to what it may have been like and allows the reader to be emotionally

involved.