No Country for Peaceful Men
Metaphorical imagery is used to set up the literal dramatic tension which drives the narrative. A Union sentry must keep nearby Confederate soldiers from discovering enemy troops hiding in the valley in order to successfully pull off a surprise ambush. That an expanse of soldiers could be so concealed is made possible because:
“No country is so wild and difficult but men will make it a theatre of war; concealed in the forest at the bottom of that military rat-trap, in which half a hundred men in possession of the exits might have starved an army to submission, lay five regiments of Federal infantry.”
The Sentry
Carter Druse has just one job in his role as sentry guard: keep his eyes open so he can spot any potential Confederate soldier capable of spotting the Union troops and giving their position away. He temporarily fails at this job because he falls asleep on duty. The description of his awakening is painted in broadly metaphorical strokes in which the agent of his rise from slumber is identified as an angel (though whether good or bad remains unknown) which appears to him while dreaming and it is there, deep within the weirdness of the dream state that this
“invisible messenger of fate touched with unsealing finger the eyes of his consciousness—whispered into the ear of his spirit the mysterious awakening word which no human lips ever have spoken, no human memory ever has recalled.”
The Sniper
Having fulfilled his role as sentry, it is now time for Carter to transform into another role: sniper. He has spotted a Confederate soldier astride a horse on the cliff across the way. The rules have been made clear to him: regardless of extenuating circumstances, this soldier must be shot dead with no warning. And so seamlessly transforms into sniper mode, efficiently conveyed through ironic metaphor:
“His teeth were firmly but not rigidly closed; his nerves were as tranquil as a sleeping babe's”
The Statue
When Carter first sees the horseman sitting astride his horse, he is just coming out of his slumber and the drowsy aftereffects lend the sight a sense of unreality. He actually literally sees the soldier and horse initially in metaphorical terms rather than as simple flesh and blood:
“On a colossal pedestal…was an equestrian statue of impressive dignity. The figure of the man sat the figure of the horse, straight and soldierly, but with the repose of a Grecian god carved in the marble”
The Father
That Carter might view his father—whom it turns out is the soldier astride the horse—might at first appear almost godlike, or at least appear as an artistic representation of the Greek ideal of godliness—it perhaps not surprising. His father has been referenced just once in the story to that point during a flashback to when his announcement that he was enlisting on the side of the Union brought forth an accusation of traitor. The father’s physical appearance is delineated through just one single detail, but it is a detail painted in metaphor that says much about how his son likely viewed him:
“The father lifted his leonine head”
