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. Cold was one problem, smoke was another. Hopefully, the soldiers will have the courage to make it through this devastating time. Lack of food, living conditions, and horrid climate are some reasons of why a soldier would quit Valley Forge.
The American revolutionary war is marked as one of the historical victories to the American. Because of this victory, the Americans gained their independence from the British. It was a war for the sake of freedom and that is why the American found this cause worth dying and fighting for. Yet, many fighters died as victims of the war and others were taken as prisoners in the New York prison ships and the sugar houses in Manhattan. Edwin G.burrows, the author of The Forgotten Patriots: The Untold Story of American Prisoners During the Revolutionary War, examines the horrifying treatment of the American prisoners by the British during the war of independence. This book gives an insight of what happened behind the walls of the British prisons by accumulating a large number of articles, biographies, and war memos to give the reader a better understanding of the forgotten patriots.
A Narrative of a Revolutionary Soldier, Some of the Adventures, Dangers, Sufferings by Joseph Plumb Martin, is a collection of tales starting from when he was just a young boy at the age of seven and quickly goes through his childhood on the farm with his grandparents on his mother's side. Mr. Martin describes his memories from a much later stage in his life at the age of 70 in the year 1830. This is the tales of the crippling weather conditions, terrible living conditions and war stories told by a young enlisted soldier during the war. Mr. Martin was born to a preacher and his wife in 1760 in western Massachusetts. The story begins when he was just a young boy who was sent to live with his grandparents on a farm. In the few years before the
Many people allocated extreme sacrifices during the Second World War and James Dowling was no exception. This hero embodied a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom when he kept fighting, despite being a prisoner of war for eight months, and also when he undertook various jobs to help better his community. Dowling’s personal perseverance after he was released from his prisoner of war camp is a trait I should strive to emulate in my every-day life. Two soldiers were interviewed in the video entitled “The Greatest Generation,” and these two soldiers demonstrated qualities that were parallel to those of James Dowling.
Christopher Hibbert’s book “Redcoats and Rebels” is a narrative of the American Revolution told from the British point of view. The book incorporates many facts and material that most readers are not too familiar with as many books on the American Revolution are told from the American side. Discussing the war from this point of view illustrates the growing tensions This perspective provides information necessary to understand the struggles and how the British actually lost the war.
In Soldier from the War Returning, Thomas Childers writes that “a curious silence lingers over what for many was the last great battle of the war.” This final battle was the soldier’s return home. After World War II, veterans came back to the United States and struggled with stigmatized mental illnesses as well as financial and social issues.
The book “A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier” is an autobiography about a boy named Ishmael who went through so much at a young age. This book should be read because it’s a story you could relate to and give you a perspective of how society is today than it was before and how it has affected people across the world. On the (front cover of the book) Carolyn See from the Washington Post says “Everyone in the world should read this book…We should read It to learn about the world and about what it means to be human.” She’s right, reading this book will provide you with facts you never known and could change the way you see things today.
When faced with war soldiers change, for better or for worse. Modern culture celebrates the glory of patriotic sacrifice. However, this celebration often leaves out the gritty details and trauma of violence behind war and the way it affects people. Homer’s The Odyssey and William Wyler’s The Best Years of Our Lives clearly discuss these details. Both debate the long-awaited return of warriors that went off to fight a war and the way the experience changes the protagonists. A warrior’s homecoming is typically thought to be full of loving comfort from family and friends, exemplified in images in popular culture. However, there is in fact a tragedy behind the whole ordeal, caused by the lack of effective communication by the homecoming warriors.
The war forces people into situations where the pressure is too much and the environment forces a change on how one views himself. Curt Lemon and Norman Bowker held themselves to standards that they couldn’t reach. They let the war determine how they live and who they would become. The war causes the human spirit to change so vastly that it leads to a demise, so quick and drastic, that it is hard to
David McCullough goes about describing how King George III lived his life away from all the rumors spread about throughout time. He goes to talk of how Nathanael Greene had a severe deformity, yet overcame it and took lead as a general. How our own soldiers at the time were more preoccupied with living a sullied lifestyle of drinking and whoring. He then goes on to list how George washington had changed these mere craftsman into more orderly and trained soldiers. His point of view with writing this work is to show what more had gone on that wasn't thought or learned. The information that those who want to know of need to go digging and looking for in the deepest shadows of old text and writing during the war. The accounts of how men lived during this time, how they tried to out think and strategize against each other, an outstanding war between a great country founded many years before an emerging country fighting for its right to live
As the Revolutionary War went on, the difficulties faced by colonists army was brutal, if not fatal. Through Valley Forge, Washington's great speech and John Andrews letter to his brother, Our nation's army prevailed with all the hardships this war brought us. Whether it was the frostbitten feet of soldiers, the questionable work load to reward ratio , or the feeling of not being able to walk another step, we overcome it.
A soldier by the name of Joseph Plumb Martin used his experience during the Revolutionary War to inform the public about the hardships of a common soldier. He did this by giving one of the most accurate accounts of the campaigns in the Revolutionary army. Martin’s story began in the Northeast, specifically in New York. He dealt with starvation, fatigue, and lack of clothes. Martin overcame these obstacles and returned to the army after his first term of service expired. His strong will and perseverance followed him through infamous battles such as Battle of Germantown (1777), Valley Forge (1777-1778), and Battle Monmouth (1778). Martin’s memoir presents conditions of the army, which were most profound after his move towards the fatigue party.
Soldier, Theodore Winthrop, in his essay, “Our March to Washington”, manifest how he feels moments before going off to fight in the civil war. Winthrop’s purpose is to convey his feeling towards his audience allowing them to better understand how he feels. To accomplish his purpose, Winthrop adopts a reflective, sincere, optimistic tone, in order to drown his audience completely under his feeling enabling them to sympathize with him.
History does not always convey the absolute truth. It offers only one side of the story. The strong and powerful voices always drown out the sounds of the weak and beaten. The winner’s word will always be taken over the loser’s. The content that lies within the textbooks was not written by the defeated. To understand the history of past cultures, it is imperative that both sides are heard. Many novels continually showcase this new outlook on history. Kurt Vonnegut’s novel, Slaughterhouse-Five, demonstrates the New Historicism perspective with subjective accounts, reflections of the time it is written, and lack of the opposing side’s outlook.
America’s war heroes all have the same stories to tell but different tales. Prescribed with the same coloring page to fill in, and use their methods and colors to bring the image to life. This is the writing style and tactic used by Tim O’Brien in his novel, “The Things They Carried”. Steven Kaplan’s short story criticism, The Undying Certainty of the Narrator in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, provides the audience with an understanding of O’Brien’s techniques used to share “true war” stories of the Vietnam War. Kaplan explains the multitude of stories shared in each of the individual characters, narration and concepts derived from their personal experiences while serving active combat duty during the Vietnam War,