The Slopes of War Essay
The novel, The Slopes of War by N. A Perez, exhibits numerous emotional and physical effects of the battle in Gettysburg between the Confederacy and Union armies. The writer utilizes different quotes providing information illustrating the various obstacles that both armies faced. Apart from demonstrating the troubles/difficulties that the armies faced, the author also provides excerpts from one of the Union soldier’s sister, Bekah. To begin with, the writer displays an internal conflict in the Union army by using imagery. For instance, “….among the ragged weeds, a long, delicate wasted hand was pointing at him…..Why did Tully had to take one grisly skeleton hand as some kind of sinister omen that he couldn’t shake out of his head?” (p.5) This internal conflict comes from Tully, one of Buck’s friends, who has mentally suffered causing him to become traumatized. This quotes illustrates how Tully become so traumatized from the war that after seeing a bony skeleton pointing at him
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A Perez exhibits the effects that Bekah receives from the war. “Custis was dead. She believed it. She had seen war face to face, heard it, smelled it, tasted its bitter smoke. Now she touched it, bending to pick up a broken branch, wrapping it with her handkerchief.” (p.179) This quote demonstrates how Bekah felt over the death of her cousin and love of her life. The emotions that she manifests over Custis’s death are described in the following quote. “He watched her go back down to the streaming hillside, an awkward, shapeless figure in the too-large boots, dignified by grief.” (p.180) Even the soldier who led Bekah to the body of Custis can clearly see how his death affected her. In conclusion, the book, The Slopes of War by N. A Perez, portrays multiple conflicts faced in the Civil War. Perez uses excerpts from passages of the novel to demonstrate various difficulties faced by both armies and Bekah, both a civilian and Union soldier’s
The American Revolution marked the history of many heroic events that immaculately stand as true inspirations for the generations to come in the United States. Even today, the gallantry of a few soldiers that won independence for the country is not only kept in the hearts of the people but run in the American blood to demonstrate acts of valor at times of war and hardships. One such story recorded in the history dates back to 1776, about a sixteen-year old juvenile, Joseph Plumb Martin, joined the Rebel Infantry and recorded his tribulations about forty-seven years in a memoir titled as “A Narrative of a Revolutionary Soldier”. The book mainly focuses on the sufferings through the tough situation he went through.
Drew Gilpin Faust’s, This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War, is an intensive study that reflects on the impact of the Civil war had on the soldiers and civilians. Faust wanted to show that, as they dealt with and mourned over the overwhelming amount of carnage, the nation and the lives of the American people were already changed forever. Although there are many other publications relating to the Civil war, she is able to successfully reflect upon the morbid topic of death in the Civil war in a new and unique way. This book shows the war in a whole different perspective by focusing less on quantifying and stating the statistics of the civil war deaths. Rather, she examines more closely on how the Civil War deaths transformed the “society, culture and politics,” and the impact it had on the lives of the Americans in the 19th century.
The worst bearing of both Rowlandson and Equiano has to face was being separated from their own love ones. Rowlandson was separated from her family and relations when her village was attacked then eventually lost her only child that was with her. Nevertheless, Equiano also endured tormented pain when he was parted from his sister while she was the only comfort to him at once. He was a young boy in a fearful atmosphere with nothing to convey a positive perspective. “It was vain that [they] besought than not to part us; she was torn from [him], and immediately carried away, while [he] was left in a state of distraction not to be describe”.
The United States Civil War is possible one of the most meaningful, bloodstained and controversial war fought in American history. Northern Americans against Southern Americans fought against one another for a variety of motives. These motives aroused from a wide range of ideologies that stirred around the states. In James M. McPherson’s What they fought for: 1861-1865, he analyzes the Union and Confederate soldier’s morale and ideological components through the letters they wrote to love ones while at war. While, John WhiteClay Chambers and G. Kurt Piehler depict Civil War soldiers through their letters detailing the agonizing battles of war in Major Problems in American Military History.
The Civil War is seen as disastrous, upsetting, and a new start for America. In Across Five Aprils, written by Irene Hunt, she shows all of those feelings. The Civil War was a hard time for many families. Their son’s are going to war, they still have to work, and they need someone to protect the family. You worry for your safety, and your children’s.
Life for the Union Soldier was not only brutal on the battlefield, but the camp life for a Union soldier was just as cruel. With the lack of personal hygiene, unsavory and repugnant food, and the shortage of clothing made living, a very difficult thing to do. Growth in the number of people with diseases was also a contributing factor to the massive amounts of death within the camp and as well as the post-battle wounds that often left either a man with one less limb or put in a mental institution. A Union Soldier’s life during the Civil War was cruel and horrific during their stay at the camps.
With all of these soul-shattering, life-changing conditions, it is less of a war and more of a test of strength for the soldiers, here at Valley Forge. Some men were going home and not returning. Other men just completely deserted. Even George Washington’s position was uncertain, the members of congress didn’t trust him. Life at Valley Forge was obviously horrible, and the ugly truth is that it wouldn’t get much better.
While the effort of America was important in winning the war, there was a lot of discrimination and prejudice against blacks, Native Americans, women, and homosexuals within the military. The men who fought in the war saw terrible conditions and many had mental breakdowns. This chapter in the book explains the deaths that many soldiers witnessed and how many men became separated from humanity. This caused many soldiers to become insane. The final two chapters in the book talk about changes in the American society throughout the war and the results from the war.
Annotated Bibliography Beah, Ishmael. A Long Way Gone. N.p., n.d. PDF file. A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah is a book that retells his own experiences as a child soldier.
This chapter “The Ghost Soldiers”, showed us how Tim O’Brien and the other soldiers were dealing with the war both physically and psychologically. It also shows us how the Tim O'Brien behaved and felt when he was shot, wounded and had a bacteria infection on his butt and how the war changed the way he thought, and viewed the other soldiers around him. This chapter also contain a lot of psychological lens. From the way Tim O’Brien felt when he was shot and separated from his unit to a new unit to when he wanted revenge on Bobby Jorgenson for almost “killing” him.
In less than 300 pages, with 100 being dedicated to notes of original sources, he presents a captivating story of why the South went to war, the reasons for its self-destruction, and the effects that arose from this conflict on the lives of blacks and whites who lived during
In chapter one of What They Fought For, I learned about the letters and diaries of the Confederate soldiers. The themes of the letters were home-sickness, lack of peace, and the defense of home against their invading enemy. The thought of soldiers fighting for their homes and being threatened by invaders, made them stronger when facing adversity. Many men expressed that they would rather die fighting for a cause, than dying without trying and this commitment showed patriotism. Throughout the letters, soldiers claimed their reason for fighting, was for the principles of Constitutional liberty and self-government.
Tony Howritz seeks to find out why the Civil War still captivates Americans today. From a young age Horwitz is educated about the Civil War from his 101
Kiowa, Ted Lavender, and Jimmy Cross are three very different people who were brought together to fight for a common purpose. They not only carried their own belongings, but each other too. This story shows how war can affect people and tells of the burdens that weigh soldiers down for a
Erich Maria Remarque was a man who had lived through the terrors of war, serving since he was eighteen. His first-hand experience shines through the text in his famous war novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, which tells the life of young Paul Bäumer as he serves during World War 1. The book was, and still is, praised to be universal. The blatant show of brutality, and the characters’ questioning of politics and their own self often reaches into the hearts of the readers, regardless of who or where they are. Brutality and images of war are abundant in this book, giving the story a feeling of reality.