"The boy represents not just childhood wonder and innocence, but rather the boy
represents the South."
This is exactly what I saw, although I had a different way of portraying it and related it to a modern day theme. The sheer thought of the lack of innocence in the world is something that would lead to the eventual destruction of the human race. If there is no one left to think of the good things to happen in the future (innocence) then all that will be though of will be ideas of depression such as death, dying, and decay. Decker hit the idea of the time spot on which techincally the thought of innocence and the fear of losing it is always going to be around. The matter of its reality will differ from generation to generation though. In the Civil War Chickamauga is the depiction of the loss of innocence and in my eyes the loss of innocence is a meer zombie apocalypse.
Interesting: "I really think Calixta and Alcee were victims of the circumstances."
ReplyDeleteThey way I read the boy and Twain's militia was that they were the innocents of the stories, yet they were the ones quick to go to war, even though they didn't know what that meant.