Mark Twain's Analysis of KaR

In the quotation from Killed at Resaca, war is repetitive. Brayle's fellow soldiers say that he was "vain of his courage." This shows that he doesn't take war seriously enough since he never ducks and has to be ordered by the general myself to do so. For every battle, he simply puts his life on the line for no reason other than proving his fiance wrong. While he could be a true hero saving others, even at a cost, he still is looking out for number one. It is possible that he thinks that he is superior or greater than the other soldiers from his sense of bravery he sees in his mind. The author mentions the "vicissitudes and mutations of that hideous encounter". Vicissitudes and mutations are two words that mean change, so in the quotation, the author is saying that no matter the variation of the same battle, Brayle always does the same thing. In the quotation, Brayle "did not once take cover", meaning that he is indifferent to his own safety because of a few words from a harpie. He has taken them to heart, and is taking any possible situation to prove himself.