The Killer Angels
How would you feel if you were forced to go against your own friends and family simply because of belief differences? Beliefs so strong that you could possibly die or fight in war against one of them. This was a reality for the men in Michael Sahara's novel, "The Killer Angels." 'I used to command those boys...Difficult thing to fight men you used to command...Swore an oath too...But...couldn't fight against home. Not against your own family. And yet...we broke the vow.' " (p.191). Although I already knew what the outcome would be of the battle when I was done, this gave me a whole different view of it. The author provides an intense vision of what it was like to be there. Shaara finds time, among the strategies and tactics, to offer some insights into the nature of men (Killer Angels) and war. He offers that the war was fought because of a clash in cultures and that the Union Army fought, not for prize or conquest, but to make a people free. 'We are fighting for freedom from the rule of what is to us a foreign government.' (p. 65 & 66). But he also makes it clear that the Confederate leaders and soldiers also fought for their sense of freedom. The conflicts within men, who having vowed in
The novel is told with such force and clarity that the reader smells the gun smoke, "The smell of hot guns, of blasted earth, the sweet smell of splintered trees. His blue pants were torn in several places and splotched with dried blood; his right boot was torn, his jacket was ripped at the shoulder, his sword was without a scabbard, was stuck into his belt. They fought for different reasons and by reading this book the reader can understand the beauty and brutality of war. It was in July, that the North and South gathered near a small town called Gettysburg. You don't need any former knowledge of the Civil War to understand Lee's self doubts, Longstreet's grief or Chamberlain's love for his brother. 62) We can relate to human experiences, rather than seeing them as unbelievable. Lee, leading a proud, unbeaten Confederate Army north into Pennsylvania in the hope of destroying the Union Army by stimulating it into an attack. The reader has two different ways to view the book, from the literary character-driven point of view or from the historical significances of the Battle of Gettysburg.
Common topics in this essay:
Civil War,
Killer Angels,
Union Army,
Potomac Confederacy's,
Battle Gettysburg,
North South,
Confederate Army,
Robert Lee,
civil war,
killer angels,
Michael Sahara's,
union army,
american civil,
reading book,
lee leading,
war novel,
american civil war,
American Civil,
|
Acceptance Essays
