In Ambrose Bierce’s short story “A Horseman in the sky” he tells the story of a man named Carter Druse who wants to fight in the American civil war. Soon after, He kills a horseman who turns out to be his father. He introduces the story with a passage describing Carter as a soldier, who is asleep at his post of duty, not aware of the tragedy that awaits him in the end.
One sunny afternoon in the autumn of the year 1861 a soldier lay in a clump of
laurel by the side of a road in western Virginia
stomach, his feet resting upon the toes, his head upon the left forearm. His
extended right hand loosely grasped his rifle. But for the somewhat methodical
disposition of his limbs and a slight rhythmic movement of the cartridge-box at
the back of his belt he might have been thought to be dead. He was asleep at his
post of duty. But if detected he would be dead shortly afterward, death being the
just and legal penalty of his crime.
The clump of laurel in which the criminal lay was in the angle of a road which
after ascending southward a steep acclivity to that point turned sharply to the
west, running along the summit for perhaps one hundred yards. (Bierce 1).
Bierce describes a scenario of a soldier laying in a clump of laurel, asleep at his post. He compares the sleeping soldier to a dead person. Bierce states how if the soldier were to be detected, he would receive the penalty of death, for no one is allowed to sleep while at their post of duty. After asserting the wrong of the soldier, the author refers to him as a criminal. Bierce exemplifies how self-indulgence can lead to a disruption of one’s duties, just as the soldier did with sleeping rather than serving his obligation. The act of sleep is also referred to as a crime because the man is a soldier who failed to do what his job required. This instance depicts a portrayal of vulnerability, for the soldier is unaware of the harm he is open to while sleeping, and thus failing to comply with his job’s standards.
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