Journalism in Tennessee still stands as my favorite Twain short story to date. But this one hits a little close to home in what I'm currently writing (My Completed Autobiography, evolving title) in that it captures a farcical historical event that is close enough to reality it might as well be true. Of course, I'm no Twain scholar so it may very well be true.
The interaction between the "soldiers" in this little tale are hysterical. Their jockeying for rank is my favorite part, especially, "nobody would cook; it was considered a degradation; so we had no dinner" (Twain, 47). In spite of the levity of the story it hits some profound history to as some of the failed soldiers would go on to be professionals in the Civil War. It makes light of a hard situation that is funny without truly making fun of the characters- no mean task. It's a good story and I hope to one day be able to capture a tone like it to inject enough humor in order to maintain the humanity in a story about inhumanity.
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