Create a new account

It's simple, and free.

The Killer Angels

In Michael Shaara's fictionalized reconstruction of the Battle of Gettysburg in The Killer Angels the thoughts and motives of three individuals receive the greatest amount of attention: General Robert E. Lee, Lieutenant General James Longstreet, and, on the Union side, Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. By the third summer of the war Lee and Longstreet are growing very tired of the fighting but Chamberlain, who is relatively new to the army, is far more enthusiastic. But all of them share a certain disillusionment at this battle. The reasons for which they are fighting may have seemed relatively clear to each of them at the beginning but, as they have had time to reflect, each understands that other motives drive him as well.

Shaara's choice of these characters as his main focus is intended to reflect the course of the war. The two professional soldiers from the South have been fighting for some time and, although they have been winning many battles and truly believe that Gettysburg could be the decisive battle of the war, they are eager to have it all over. They have begun to believe they can never win and know their careers are entirely over. Chamberlain, who had to take a leave from the college where he taught and pretend to go abroad in order to join the army, is still completely fascinated by the war. He is an eager newcomer who eventually, as Shaara notes in his epilogue, becomes "one of the most remarkable soldiers in American history" (354). The Union can still come up with men of his caliber after more than two years of war, but the South called on its finest men from the beginning and, with its smaller population, it is rapidly going through all the good men it has. By the end of the battle Pickett's loss of his thirteen colonels, "seven were dead and six were wounded," brings this idea home to the reader (336-7).

Chamberlain is a thoughtful person who reviews for himself most of the arguments for fighting ...

Page 1 of 5 Next >

More on The Killer Angels...

Loading...
APA     MLA     Chicago
The Killer Angels. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 08:21, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1682589.html