Rifles for Watie Literary Elements

A children’s novel

It is set during the American Civil War. Sixteen-year-old Jefferson Davis Bussey joins the ranks the Union army; the whole plot revolves around his story.

The story is told from the third-person point of view by an omniscient narrator.

The tone is emotional, and the mood is heroic; it often changes from elated to depressed.

Jefferson Davis Bussey is the protagonist of the story. Captain Asa Clardy is the antagonist.

Person vs. self
“Everybody in the rebel country had been nice to him. Heifer watched over him like a fussy old hen over a single chick. The Jackmans had taken wonderful care of him. The rebel riders had been good to him since he got back. Disturbed by all their kindness, Jeff felt mean about being against them in the war.”

The moment when Jeff discovers the truth about Asa Clardy is the climax of the story. Finally, he knows who smuggles rifles to the rebels.

“At breakfast his father had told him that six Southern states had seceded from the Union and that a war would probably be fought between the North and the South, a big war that might easily spread to Kansas.”
This sentence foreshadows the events of the story, the war does come to Kansas.

“He wished with all his heart that there would be another battle tomorrow.”
Jeff underestimates the danger of the war.

Allusions to the American Civil War are the most relevant.

Images of the war are the most vividly depicted.

“They've been told in church that it's wrong to play cards. They're afraid if they get killed with playing cards on them, they won't go to heaven.”
The paradox is that they think it is wrong to play cards, but find it completely normal to kill other people.

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“Compared to his own beloved Stars and Stripes, it seemed cheap and bold and arrogant. And yet it made him feel a little alarmed”. (Stars and Stripes are the metonymy that is used for the flag of the United States).

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