Naturalism
...le resting with his troops. This suggests that the event was purely by chance because any one of the lieutenant’s troops could also have been shot. The war was still going on around them as the lieutenant walked to the rear in search of the hospital. At the hospital, the lieutenant saw many wounded soldiers. These wounded soldiers could be injured due to any number of reasons. They could have been fighting against their enemy, or by mere chance, simply in the wrong place at the wrong time like the lieutenant. The surgeon that the lieutenant encountered was very rude. For example, the surgeon said, “‘you come along with me and I’ll tend to you.’ His voice contained the same scorn as if he were saying: ‘You will have to go to jail’” (pg. 480). This makes the lieutenant lose hope and confidence because he had a feeling that his arm would be amputated. The lieutenant also came upon some stragglers, and they told him how to find the field hospital; they described its exact location. They also told the performance of every corps, division, and the opinion of every general (pg. 479). This information gave the lieutenant an idea to look upon the hospital wondering, carrying his wounded arm rearward. The stragglers in this scene are an example of the environment. The wounded lieutenant was also being helped by his men on his way to the field hospital. One of the lieutenant’s men, seeing his arm, began to scold, “‘why, man, that’s no way to do. You want to fix that thing’” (pg. 480). This man helped the lieutenant by binding his handkerchief over the lieutenant’s wound. Because of the lieutenant’s environment, which was the war itself, he loses his arm. War is a state or period of open and declared armed fighting ...