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The Mother
The child’s father is mentioned at the beginning of the story, when the child is first wandering into the forest to play at war with his toy sword. The child’s father is now a slaveholding planter, but he used to be a soldier. The story makes clear that the child has learned his cavalier, playful attitude about war from his father, who holds similar ideas himself and loves to look at old books with pictures of battles and soldiers. That the child’s disastrously romantic ideas about war come from his father broadens the story’s critique of such fantasies of those who hold them—through the character of the father it’s clear that, while the deaf-mute child is uniquely unable to grasp the reality of war, such views are widespread and destructive. The father’s casual participation in the domination of others is further made clear by the fact that he owns slaves. It is not revealed whether the child’s father survives at the end of the story. The narrator describes the child finding a dead woman’s body, but not a dead man’s. However, since the child’s entire home has burned, it is reasonable to assume that his father may have also died, along with everyone else who lived at the plantation.
The Father Quotes in Chickamauga
The Chickamauga quotes below are all either spoken by The Father or refer to The Father. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chickamauga Quotes
In his younger manhood the father had been a soldier, had fought against naked savages and followed the flag of his country into the capital of a civilized race to the far South. In the peaceful life a planter the warrior-fire survived; once kindled, it is never extinguished. The man loved military books and pictures and the boy had understood enough to make himself a wooden sword, though even the eye of his father would hardly have known it for what it was. This weapon he now bore bravely, as became the son of an heroic race.
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This quote also comes at the beginning of the story, when the child is wandering off by himself into the forest to play soldier. Here, the narrator provides information about the child’s father in order to further place the child’s ideas about war in context. The child’s father used to be a soldier, but even now in his life as a planter, he still loves military books and pictures, and the “warrior-fire” survives because “once kindled, it is never extinguished.” The narrator then suggests a causal link between father and son’s attitudes about war, by following the description of the Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut. Incidunt rerum est. Aperiam doloremque eum. Animi soluta perspiciatis. Ut minima autem. Modi omnis iure. Sint qui qui. Qui similique praesentium. Ex co
Somewhere far off was a strange, muffled thunder, as if the partridges were drumming in celebration of nature’s victory over the son of her immemorial enslavers. And back at the little plantation, where white men and black were hastily searching the fields and hedges in alarm, a mother’s heart was breaking for her missing child.
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This quote occurs right after the child sobs himself to sleep in the forest. In reality, the strange, muffled thunder in the distance is the sound of the massive Civil War battle of Chickamauga, but the narrator does not reveal this directly at this time. Instead, the narrator compares the strange sound to partridges drumming to celebrate nature’s victory over humans. In this way, the narrator suggests that there is some sort of struggle occurring between humanity and nature, just like there is a struggle (war) happening between two groups of humans. Throughout the story, the narrator suggests that humans Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore
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The Father Character Timeline in Chickamauga
The timeline below shows where the character The Father appears in Chickamauga. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chickamauga
The child’s father is a poor planter, who in his youth was a soldier who had “fought naked...
(full context)
The narrator notes that the child used to sometimes ride on the backs of his father’s slaves as if they were horses, and now he tries to do the same to...
(full context)
