My First Goose Isaac Babel Analysis

New Criticism of “My First Goose”
In “My First Goose” by Isaac Babel an educated, Russian soldier brutally kills a goose to be accepted by his comrades. This soldier narrates the story with an expressive and sweet-sounding language demonstrating the way he sees the world around him. The descriptive narrative often reveals deeper aspects of the character. Literary devices such as imagery, symbolism, and irony are used in the text to convey a scholarly character who sees the world with an artistic view
The imagery in the text clearly validates the character’s creative perspective. The soldier narrates his story with beautiful similes and personification to describe his environment during this occurrence. Commander Savitsky’s legs are portrayed

His use of a female presence in his expressive narration possibly reveals a lack of a literal woman in his life. This yearning for female company is expressed through his poetic descriptions. The last sentence almost confirms his desire when he states, “I dreamed and saw women in my dreams…” Also, legs are mentioned at the beginning and the end of the text. The first appearance of legs is described by the character as “two girls wedged to their shoulders in riding boots” and again when the soldiers’ legs are tangled together while sleeping under the stars. The character notices these legs and describes them to symbolize how he feels at the beginning and by the end of the story. In the beginning of the text the narrator seems out of place, like he is being thrown smack-dab into this group of men. The legs are wedged into boots much like the character is shoved into this troop of crude soldiers. By the end, the character is accepted by and comfortable with his fellow comrades, blending into the group. His legs in the end are mixed with the others representing his acceptance as a member of the