The Rifle

After reading the first three paragraphs of this story I am a little concerned. The man is very much in love with his rifle, which is okay. He goes on to detail about how he cleans it, and he pretends it is a ladies "secret place" and clean it how she may like it?!..creep. He then went on to explain the satisfactions of cleaning his butt-plate screw. So the fourth paragraph is even creepier. He explains that at the age of 21 he wanted something from a 26 year old woman she could not offer. Let me explain that this woman is pregnant with her husband and she already has had one child. I guess she let him touch her, but he could "not have his way." He said he could no more than bury his face in her body's hollows and undulations.........???
Now apparently they had a thing before she was prego with her actually husband, and grabs his Meiji rifle like it is her slender body; this saddens him. Then he goes to explain that he pretty much rapes her because he was strong and could hold her down for a long period of time. In the sixth paragraph he proclaims, "The rifle has become my woman, and older woman." He receives a letter from his lover saying the baby is not her husbands, but his. Him name is Shin, so she will name the baby that as well. Shin is training for the Opium wars and he is glad he has his woman, a rifle, to cheer him on with his hard work. He had to dig a pit to put dead bodies in, and once the Chinese prisoners arrived, he was silenced by a beautiful woman. His captain saw this and told him he had to be the one who shot her. When it came down to shooting her he had no problem because he is part of the rifle, and the rifle wants to shoot. After this incident the woman from china had died within him, and he was now only chasing Korean women. He was hospitalized after falling ill, and his rifle had been taken away and given to someone else. He then worked in the kitchen and had to deliver food to the squad leader. He saw how hard Shin had been working so he found whoever had his rifle and gave it back to him. Shin refused the weapon and threw it on the ground and declared he would not do the marksmanship competition. The squad leader threatened to kill himself if he didn't, so he did. Shin shot off his rounds without even aiming. He was on patrol with the other men when his fever got the best of him. Breaking ranks can lead to a lot of trouble, and he felt something behind him boosting him forward; it was his gun. The squad leader was behind him pushing him with the gun. Shin begged him to kill him. He was sentenced to 17 years in military prison. One night he tried to destroy his rifle by burning it, but the squad leader who had been watching him went to stop him. He grabbed his gun and accidentally shot the man in the stomach. He was then taken to Nanjing where he did forced labor for Chinese. Truckloads of old Meiji rifles were taken in the disarming of Japanese troops. He was one of the people who had to unload them and as soon as he touched on, Shin knew it was his rifle. The Chinese guard saw him eagerly looking at this gun and whipped him.


I was insanely creeped out by Shin. There is seriously something wrong with him. When he saw his gun for the last time it was all rusted. He thought this was a sign that his woman was back in Japan with her husband. No man should touch his rifle in that way because it is so sick on so many different levels. I don't really have much to say about this story. It was really weird.