A Mystery Of Heroism

War comes alive in this story. The guns are personified as full of “red hate” as they tear up the land (Paragraph 12). As the weaponry is personified, the people in this story are dehumanized. Characters do not have the opportunity to become fully developed or “personified” in this world of sudden explosions and vicious deaths. Only one character, Collins, has his thoughts and feelings explored as he travels to get the water. Collins does admit to terror, but the only other terror comes from the personified weapons: the “crimson terror of an exploding shell” (Paragraph 3).

By giving the weaponry the power to feel terror but denying this power to the soldiers, Crane makes humans seem inconsequential and disposable. When the guns are characterized with “demeanors of stolidity and courage” (Paragraph 6), it contrasts with the humans, who fail to show such qualities. Of course, the ironic tone of the story makes the reader aware of how war strips away humanity, turning the powerful shells into people and people into empty shells. The personified shells are the only ones to hear the pitiable cries of the lieutenant: “Those futile cries, wrenched from him by his agony, were heard only by shells, bullets” (Paragraph 71).