While Henry displays the most self-doubt among the three,
the loud soldier and the tall soldier already have decided how they will fair in their
first taste of combat. Jim Conklin (the tall soldier) is realistic in his assessment of
his expectations. He admits that he may run if the rest of the company runs, and
that
"... if
I once started to run, I'd run like the devil, and no mistake. But if everybody was
a-standing and a-fighting, why, I'd stand and fight. Be jiminey, I would. I'll bet on
it."
But Wilson (the loud
soldier) claims to have no question about his abilities. He laughs at the proposition
that he might run if the action gets too hot. His bluster will later prove to be gross
overconfidence. Behind this act is an uncertainty no different than Henry's own
self-doubt. But Wilson prefers to loudly proclaim his manhood, and how he will "try like
thunder."
He evidently complimented himself upon the modesty of this
statement.
“Run?” said the loud one; “run? of course not!” He
laughed... I'm not going to skedaddle. The man that bets on my running will lose his
money, that's all.”
No comments:
Post a Comment