# XIII: Lanark explained — Short Fiction

> Chapter companion for Short Fiction by Manly Wade Wellman.

## What happens

Captain Kane Lanark confronts undead Confederate guerrillas in a moonlit gully near Fearful Rock. Despite his military training and courage, he discovers that his saber and revolver cannot kill the reanimated corpses. After decapitating one and severing a hand, the severed hand continues to crawl and grasp at him, forcing him to flee in horror.

## Themes in this chapter

### Supernatural Evil and Occultism

The undead guerrillas cannot be killed by conventional means; severed body parts continue to move and attack, suggesting a supernatural curse or occult reanimation.

### Fear and Control

Lanark's growing terror as he realizes his weapons are useless; the undead's relentless pursuit and the disembodied hand's crawling symbolize loss of control.

### Transformation and Duality

The guerrillas are neither fully alive nor dead, existing in a grotesque liminal state; Lanark himself shifts from confident soldier to fleeing, terrified man.

## Character check-ins

### Kane Lanark

Protagonist; a brave and pragmatic Union captain who faces undead guerrillas and discovers conventional weapons cannot stop them.

### Enid Lanark

Mentioned as Lanark's wife; he thinks of her and her warning about her stepfather's mockery.

### Sergeant Jager

Mentioned; Lanark wonders where Jager is during the fight.

## Key lines

> The combination of pluck and common sense is something of a rarity, and men who possess that combination are apt to go far.

Courage paired with practical wisdom is uncommon, and those who have it tend to succeed.

_Narrator's assessment of Lanark's character._

> It won’t die⁠—not though I chop it into atoms until the evil is driven away.

The creature cannot be killed, no matter how much I destroy it, unless the evil is exorcised.

_Lanark's realization that the undead are immune to physical destruction._

> He meant killing, did Lanark, but nothing presented itself.

Lanark intended to kill, but there was nothing to kill.

_The futility of his attack against the intangible or undead._

> The head flew from the shoulders, as though it had been stuck there ever so lightly.

The head came off as if it had been barely attached.

_Lanark decapitates a guerrilla with ease, yet the body continues to move._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/xiii-lanark
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters