Crimson Tide : A Dramatic War Story Of How Loyalty Collides With Conscience Aboard The Uss Alabama

Mississippi’s Civil War: A Narrative History begins by providing the account of the Nullification Crisis that took place in 1832. The crisis began as a dispute between the state of South Carolina and the federal government over a series of national tariffs that many of the southerners viewed as excessive. (6) The leader of the nullification movement in Mississippi was John Anthony Quitman. Quitman died in 1859 and the Mississippi finally left the Union in 1861. (8) As a result of the Nullification crisis, the Mexican War took place. Many Mississippians volunteered to fight with much enthusiasm. After nearly two years of war, America won. (11) From 1840-1860 Mississippi’s population doubled to almost 800,000 residents and by 1860 Mississippi’s institutions were hopelessly entangled in the web of slavery. The cotton based agriculture increased the need for slaves and by the eve of the Civil War slaves represented 55 percent of the state’s total population. (12) Mississippi’s ordinance of secession officially took them out of the union in 1861 leading up to the Civil War. (32)

In the wake of the Civil War, Congress acceded to pressure to have the federal government intercede to secure African Americans' rights.

Contrast is an integral part of everyday life. Without contrast, everything becomes one-dimensional and bland. In a traumatic experience, such as during a war, the very nature of it creates and amplifies these contrasts within the human spirit. Timothy Findley’s The Wars is an excellent example of how contrast is created. Some examples of these contrasts are kindness and cruelty, courage and cowardice, but the most important contrast created by Findley in the novel is the one between loyalty and betrayal.

I read the article, “World War I as I Saw it: The Memoir of an African American Soldier.” This article consists of a memoir written by Bruce Wright and an introduction written by his grandchildren, Tracey Spencer and James Spencer. This article was published in the Massachusetts Historical Review in 2007. Before the memoir, an introduction written by Bruce Wright’s grandchildren appears. In it, they write of his personality and family, as well as a brief introduction to his life in the army. The memoir begins with Bruce stating that his company (Company L) was the only African American company in the Massachusetts National Guard. Bruce was shocked that the Colonel in charge of the regiment treated Bruce Wright’s company no different than what he treated the white companies. After moving to many different camps around Massachusetts for drill, Company L was sent to North Carolina. Here, Company L experienced ill treatment from many white soldiers. There was so much fighting between the men that soon Company L was moved to another camp. Then, at the end of March 1918, Company L set sail for France. The trip was difficult for the soldiers, with nothing but rough

     According to the author Tim O’Brien, people tend to readily accept the ‘facts’ presented of what happened during a war. People do not consider the existence of fallacies regarding the actual stories of what happens in wars, few consider that the ‘facts’ of an incident often change through people’s words. The film ‘Saving the Private Ryan’ by Steven Spielberg features both facts and seemingness part of the war story. Since it is so difficult to fully describe a war using human language, Spielberg ended up revising his stories to make sense out of it. Spielberg included parts that did not occur or exclude parts that did occur in order to make their stories seem more credible. According

Jason Phillips, the author of Diehard Rebels: The Confederate Culture of Invincibility, delves into the heart of Confederate soldiers and searches for reasoning behind continuing a battle they believed they would win despite every obstacle in sight. Phillips focuses less on what the diehards fought for, and more on why they continued to fight. Phillips looks at letters and diaries focusing heavily on the last two years of the war, when many Confederates had already deserted or found other ways out of combat. An important question posed is, why did “diehard rebels” believe they would win the Civil War? Phillips argues that the diehards “expressed a resilient ethos or culture of invincibility.”

The Preservation of the Confederate Memory lives on through the Robert E. Lee memorial in Richmond. Many historians have written about the monument of Robert E. Lee and his importance to the preservation of Confederate Memory. But, recently a major debate surrounding the monument has spurred an argument between two groups. One group wants the monument to be removed or relocated from its original spot in Richmond V.A. This group believes that it is an offensive symbol in support of slavery. The other group fights to protect the monument and its location because of its importance to the southern heritage. However, trying to understand the significance of the monument requires one to look through the lenses of both groups.

The short story that will be discussed, evaluated, and analyzed in this paper is a very emotionally and morally challenging short story to read. Michael Meyer, author of the college text The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature, states that the author of How to Tell a True War Story, Tim O’Brien, “was drafted into the Vietnam War and received a Purple Heart” (472). His experiences from the Vietnam War have stayed with him, and he writes about them in this short story. The purpose of this literary analysis is to critically analyze this short story by explaining O’Brien’s writing techniques, by discussing his intended message and how it is displayed, by providing my own reaction,

Firstly, the Americans had just cause to declare war on British North America. The British had several different reasons why the Americans were tempted to and finally acted on declaring war on British North America. The American expansion was mainly obstructed by one reason. Indigenous leaders such as Tecumseh, were being supplied and cheered on by the British. Americans on the western frontier were not happy by this and demanded that interference was stopped.

The Civil War, a period of four years in the United States filled with bloody combat, thousands of casualties, and the destruction of much of Southern infrastructure. Although the Civil War had various causes (economy, politics, etc.), it mainly originated from the pressing issue of slavery at the time, mainly its expansion into the Western territories. As we all know, slavery was one of the most horrific times in our nation’s history, yet it was a typical and normal thing for the people of the 19th century. The film, Glory (1989), directed by Edward Zwick, doesn’t necessarily depict the horrors of slavery, however it does show 19th century America’s attitude toward African Americans, as well as the average African American’s hunger for

Flyboys: A True Story of Courage, written by James Bradley, covers some of the events during World War II that took place in the western theater of the world. The book specifically focuses on one group of men known as Flyboys, who were tasked with bombing Chichi Jima in order to try to make it possible for the United States to take the island which was impossible to take by land. The pilots Jimmy Dye, Glenn Frazier, Floyd Hall, Marve Mershon, Dick Woelhof, Grady York, Warren Earl Vaughan, and the anonymous B-24 crewman who were gunned down and parachuted onto the island were taken as prisoners of war and treated and killed in horrific ways, so much so that the government did not even tell their families the truth about what happened to them.

I chose to review “Unit Four: Freedom, Black Soldiers, and the Union Military”. This unit focuses on the slave’s involvement in the war, and their desire to fight for their freedom. I chose this because while I can imagine a man’s desire to fight for his freedom, I was curious as to how well that assistance was accepted. War gave hope of freedom to even the most remote and illiterate slaves. All slaves had the sense that one of the primary outcomes of the war would be the relinquishment of slavery. Free blacks and escaped slaves believe that if they fought next to the white man for their freedom it would prove that they were equal and deserved the same citizenship. At the beginning of the war the laws didn’t allow for blacks to join the

The Red Badge of Courage is a story of self-discovery. The novel is set during the American Civil War, on multiple battlefields. Henry Fleming is a young soldier fighting for the Union. He first joined the army because he dreams of the glories of battle and performing heroic deeds in battle. Although Henry wishes to be a brave soldier, when in battle, his survival instincts take over, and he begins debating fight or flight. His desire to become a soldier and his instinct to survive introduces the main plot and conflict of the story: During a battle, he runs away. This causes him to see the contradiction in himself and it becomes an emotional conflict for him to solve out the contradiction. Because he is so hung up on the image of the war hero, even though he wasn’t shot at, but hit by a fellow soldier, he lies to his comrades that the wound was a bullet wound. He’s lied once to them about fighting bravely in battle when in actuality he ran away, and he lied again telling them that the head would which he actually got from another soldier was a bullet wound. The climax of the plot occurs when Henry redeems himself at another major battle by fighting bravely and taking up the Union flag when the flag bearer is wounded. He ignores his fears and faces the battle like the hero he’s dreamed of and he overcomes his survival instinct. The resolution happens after the battle is over and Henry survives. He reflects on the decisions he’s made and sees how much he’d

Last time I visited Blackwater it was the middle of July. It was hot, humid and swarmed with flies. The marshes were singing their sounds of life and the smell of mud wafted in the air. After a quick visit to the refuge, my uncle took my family out on the boat. To get to the boat we drove 30 mins down past the refuge to the middle of nowhere. It was eerie. Many houses were abandoned overgrown, and lonely. The road turned to dirt. Entire towns were left to dust. Ponds of flooded water sat idly on side of the roads. Once we arrived at the wharf we were greeted by a couple of the watermen, friends of my uncle. Their accents were completely foreign to the Maryland I grew up in. It was like a deeper southern twangy accent where the words morphed

When he created the score for A Crimson Tide, he used a large choir and it featured a majestic symphonic score, as well as 3-D sound effects to enhance the film with action and suspense. Despite his choice to take the path less glittered, he still received recognition for A Crimson Tide. He won a Grammy for the score, and received another Academy Award nomination for The Preacher’s Wife. That same year, the performing rights organization BMI presented him with its prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award before Zimmer was 40 years old, which is a great achievement on his part. And in 1998 he received yet another Academy Award nomination on the movie As Good As It Gets (1998). In the late 1990’s, Zimmer accepted a head position of the music division with the Dreamworks SKG studio. While he was there, he supervised for all of their