“The Affair of Coulter’s Notch” is a short story in which Ambrose Bierce, the author, presents an often unusual view of war. Captain Coulter, Bierce’s main character, experiences the transformation from white officer to black slave, then, is the result and the reflection of a racial definition forced on him by an act of recognition. According to Wade Newhouse, “It occurs because of the visible effects of his having successfully carried out his military responsibility, an act that simultaneously marks him as black and destroys his family.” Published in the late 1880s, the overpowering nature of war in “The Affair of Coulter’s Notch” may reflect that period. Bierce tells Captain Coulter’s story, but she does not tell his story in first person. Bierce uses the narrator to tell the story. However, the narrator doesn’t just tell the story. The narrator knows something that the other characters don’t. For Example, the narrator knows that Captain Coulter can’t handle the pressure of his military decisions. Readers can infer that the narrator knows more than what can be physically observed. Bierce never tells the readers exactly how or what Captain Coulter is feeling. Which forces the …show more content…
Colonel," said the adjutant-general, "I don't know that I ought to say anything, but there is something wrong in all this. Do you happen to know that Captain Coulter is from the South?" The colonel responds, "No; was he, indeed?” The adjutant general replies "I heard that last summer the division which the general then commanded was in the vicinity of Coulter's home--camped there for weeks, and--" This creates suspicion in the Colonel and Captain Coulter’s other peers in the workplace. They begin to think that Captain Coulter will eventually replace them for the other side. As soon as he does the Colonel will release an order for Captain Coulter’s
“A Confederacy of Dunces” is a brilliant satire written by the deceased John Kennedy Toole. Toole was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize for the satire after its publication in 1981. The book became a cult classic soon after its publication and has since transferred over into the literary cannon in some curriculums. In my analysis I will focus on the three main themes found in the book; slavery, work ethic, and fate.
The novel showed a pivotal point prior to the Civil War and how these issues ultimately led to the fueling of quarrel between Americans. While such institutions of slavery no longer exist in the United States, the message resonates with the struggles many groups ostracized today who continue to face prejudice from those in higher
What This Cruel War Was Over evaluates the American Civil War through the eyes of both northern and southern soldiers. By examining the conflict through this lens, Chandra Manning delivers a narrative with intricacies that explore an in-depth perspective to a greater degree than other authors have in the past. Revealing how men thought about slavery and the Civil War frames her book, and the examples she utilizes to fulfill her goal in arguing her thesis conveys an original body of work. Additionally, several of the concepts established in the author’s book are also discussed through various methods in other books.
Denmark Vesey by David Robertson, is an important contribution to American historiography. His “detective story” is about a forgotten event, which is commonly overlooked when studying American history. It is undeniable that if the Denmark Vesey revolt had taken place, American history would have been changed forever, with ideas about slavery being changed, and the complete destruction of Charleston, South Carolina. David Robertson adequately relayed the event in a way that portrayed Denmark Vesey to be a hero, and a source of pride for African-Americans.
The symbols and language used in “Battle Royal” allow readers to understand the concept of being black in America; fighting for equality. Symbols such as the white blindfold, stripper, and battle itself all give a suggestion about how the unnamed protagonist felt, but more importantly, Ralph Ellison’s “Battle Royal” depicts the difficult struggles facing the black man in what’s supposed to be a post-slavery era.
Douglass, Frederick. The Heroic Slave. In Violence In the Black Imagination. Ed, Ronald T. Takaki. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.
“Domestic tranquility”, and “All men created equal”, words used in the preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America, irony at its finest in the period known as the Civil War. One month into the Civil War a black man, Alfred M. Green, gave a speech in Philadelphia to a Union audience about just that. In the oration he urged the African American people, who at this time were not eligible to enlist in the Union army, to fight for domestic harmony and equality. In doing so, Green uses figurative language and strong diction to help garner an emotional appeal, as well as establish a tone of empowerment.
Davis, Curtis Carroll. "Companions of Crisis: The Spy Memoir as a Social Document." Civil War History 10.4 (1964): 385-400. Project MUSE. Web. 2 Feb. 2014.f.
In The Narrative Life of Frederick Douglass, emotional violence takes an aggressive toll not only on Douglass, but also his master Mr. Covey, his family, and fellow slaves. During his time with Covey, Douglass was affected deeply by the strain of slavery, especially in spirit and ways of hope. Mr. Covey was infamous for his reputation as a ‘‘nigger-breaker” and induced fear into slaves, emotionally scarring them (Douglass 53).
Book Titile: The Art of Command in the Civil War. Contributors: Steven E. Woodworth - editor. Publisher: University of Nebraska Press. Place of Publication: Lincoln, NE. Publication Year: 1998
The reader is put in the middle of a war of nerves and will between two men, one of which we have grown up to learn to hate. This only makes us even more emotional about the topic at hand. For a history book, it was surprisingly understandable and hard to put down. It enlightened me to the complex problems that existed in the most memorable three months this century.
In “Sonny’s Blues”, author James Baldwin used first person as the narration. His first person narrator was a main character in the story who shared dialogue very consistently throughout the entire story with other characters. The narrator is “Sonny’s Blues” included thoughts and actions of their own. In “Lusus Naturae”, Margaret Atwood used first-person as well. Although Atwood and Baldwin used the narrator as a main character in the story, the narrator in “Lusus Naturae” was different than the narrator in “Sonny’s Blues.” The narrator in “Lusus Naturae” used very minimum dialogue with other characters. Atwood’s narrator never had a response from another character and the narrator’s motives were explained through the description of her actions in the story. “Lusus Naturae” would be easier for a reader to understand based on how the author used the narrator’s point of view and how the author used dialogue between the narrator and other characters in the
10. Captain Asa was a mean leader and a traitor to the union. He had instant hatred toward Jeff and almost made him change his name. Clardy’s motivation in my novel was to help Watie and the south win the war.
In the novel, the author proposes that the African American female slave’s need to overcome three obstacles was what unavoidably separated her from the rest of society; she was black, female, and a slave, in a white male dominating society. The novel “locates black women at the intersection of racial and sexual ideologies and politics (12).” White begins by illustrating the Europeans’ two major stereotypes o...
In the short story “A Horseman in the Sky” Ambrose Bierce establishes the action of the story during the American Civil War and how the war takes a toll on a family in a dismal situation. The story calls attention to a Federal soldier who goes on to fight the war as a young man in the Union and eventually murders his father in a very crude manner. Bierce points out that this is a capital crime under military law, meriting the death penalty, and also offers the opinion that the man's execution, if he were to be found out and tried, would be just. The young man is careless in his actions and ultimately puts his fellow soldiers lives in serious danger. The Civil War tore many families apart and created such animosity amongst blood relatives that the value of family meant less than what side of the war a soldier was fighting for.