Book Report on the Killer Angels
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Jose Resendiz Oct 15, 2015 AP Language Book Report on The Killer AngelsThe Civil War was a gruesome military battle between the North and South leaving behind what seemed to be nothing but pride and bloodshed, but this is false! In the novel The Killer Angels authored by Michael Shaara and published by McKay on 1974 , gives its readers a vivid perception and understanding of what actually happened during thegreat battle of Gettysburg, which left 50,000 Confederate and Union soldiers dead, wounded, or missing. I found this novel quite authentic because it shares many powerful emotional experiences of living throughout this significant battle. There are several main characters in The Killer Angels, but the main two are the famous Robert E. Lee and Josh Chamberlain. Chamberlain is a Northern colonel who is viewed as the protagonist, Chamberlain is an unusual man, a college professor turned regiment commander, he views the war and the people around him more as a philosopher than a military man. He is from Maine and tends to be very loyal to the people from his home state ,“What we are fighting for is our freedom from the rule of what is to us a foreign government. That’s all we want and that’s what this war is about. We established this country in the first place with strong state governments just for that reason, to avoid a central
tyranny”(Shaara 70). Chamberlain is truly a hero of the Gettysburg battle. Lee is a Southern general and fights against Chamberlain’s military and together they face many conflicts therefore he can be considered the antagonist. Lee is very aggressive, which reflects his style of fighting. He talks a lot and always wants to know what is going on. Lee is also can be agentleman, a man of honor, and a religious man with no vices and considerable patience, “Tell General Ewell the Federal troops are retreating in confusion. It is only necessary to push those people to get possession of those heights. Of course, I do not know his situation, and I do not want him to engage a superior force, but I do want him to take that hill, if he thinks practicable”(Shaara 92). He is soft spoken and cares about his men, but is willing to use them boldly for the cause although the outcome maybe death. He believes deeply in his God and feels God is controlling the course of events. The novel begins with a confederate spy telling Lee of nearby Union brigades, Lee thendecides to move towards the town of Gettysburg along with other Confederate comrades such as James Longstreet and his men commencing the start of the four day battle. The novel then greatly details what the perspectives were to be like to fighting for each side during the Civil War era, there were many little conflicts throughout the Confederate army such as when Longstreet and Lee build tension when Lee was questions of his tactics and training . Overall the plot consisted of multiple perspectives of the solders and high ranking men on Confederate and the Union, by the end of the novel the Union wins the Battle at Gettysburg when Pickett’s charge fails. Gettysburg marks the end of the South’s second and final attempt to invade the North. Lee retreats to defend Virginia, where he will be slowly battered down over the next two years until he is forced to surrender. Gettysburg marks the turning point in the Civil War, and the Unions victory in 1865 ending of slavery in the United States. The setting and time of my novel plays a key part in the storyline. The novel is about the