“The duty of the soldier was plain: the man must be shot
dead from ambush—without warning, without a moment’s
spiritual preparation, with never so much as an unspoken
prayer, he must be sent to his account.”
A Horseman in the Sky
by Ambrose Bierce
Is it, then, so terrible to kill an enemy in war—an enemy who has surprised a secret vital to the safety of one’s self and comrades—an enemy more
formidable for his knowledge than all his army for its numbers? Carter Druse grew pale; he shook in every limb, turned faint, and saw the statuesque group
before him as black figures, rising, falling, moving unsteadily in arcs of circles in a fiery sky. His hand fell away from his weapon, his head slowly dropped
until his face rested on the leaves in which he lay.
This courageous gentleman and hardy soldier was near swooning from intensity of emotion. It was not for long; in another moment his face was raised from
earth, his hands resumed their places on the rifle, his forefinger sought the trigger; mind, heart and eyes were clear, conscience and reason sound. He
could not hope to capture that enemy; to alarm him would but send him dashing to his camp with his fatal news. The duty of the soldier was plain: the man
must be shot dead from ambush—without warning, without a moment’s spiritual preparation, with never so much as an unspoken prayer, he must be sent to
his account. But no—there is a hope; he may have discovered nothing; perhaps he is but admiring the sublimity of the landscape. If permitted, he may turn
and ride carelessly away in the direction whence he came. Surely it will be possible to judge at the instant of his withdrawing whether he knows. It may well
be that his fixity of attention—Druse turned his head and looked through the deeps of air downward as from the surface of the bottom of a translucent sea.
He saw creeping across the green meadow a sinuous line of figures of men and horses—some foolish commander was permitting the soldiers of his escort
to water their beasts in the open, in plain view from a hundred summits!
Which sentence from the passage develops the theme that a soldier often must harm other people to protect oneself?
“But no—there is a hope; he may have discovered nothing;
perhaps he is but admiring the sublimity of the landscape.”
“Carter Druse grew pale; he shook in every limb, turned faint,
and saw the statuesque group before him as black figures,
rising, falling, moving unsteadily in arcs of circles in a fiery
sky.”
“He could not hope to capture that enemy; to alarm him
would but send him dashing to his camp with his fatal news.”
“This courageous gentleman and hardy soldier was near
swooning from intensity of emotion.”
3 answers
that is not one of the answers
these are the answer choices
“But no—there is a hope; he may have discovered nothing;
perhaps he is but admiring the sublimity of the landscape.”
“Carter Druse grew pale; he shook in every limb, turned faint,
and saw the statuesque group before him as black figures,
rising, falling, moving unsteadily in arcs of circles in a fiery
sky.”
“He could not hope to capture that enemy; to alarm him
would but send him dashing to his camp with his fatal news.”
“This courageous gentleman and hardy soldier was near
swooning from intensity of emotion.”
these are the answer choices
“But no—there is a hope; he may have discovered nothing;
perhaps he is but admiring the sublimity of the landscape.”
“Carter Druse grew pale; he shook in every limb, turned faint,
and saw the statuesque group before him as black figures,
rising, falling, moving unsteadily in arcs of circles in a fiery
sky.”
“He could not hope to capture that enemy; to alarm him
would but send him dashing to his camp with his fatal news.”
“This courageous gentleman and hardy soldier was near
swooning from intensity of emotion.”
The sentence that develops the theme that a soldier often must harm other people to protect oneself is:
"He could not hope to capture that enemy; to alarm him would but send him dashing to his camp with his fatal news."
"He could not hope to capture that enemy; to alarm him would but send him dashing to his camp with his fatal news."
1 answer