Вы находитесь на странице: 1из 10

CHAPTER SUMMARIES WITH NOTES FOREWORD--the "before" picture The novel begins with an omniscient present-tense overview of the

Union and Confederate forces, the army leaders, and the surroundings. This introduction to the book is like a "before picture," which--contrasted with the afterword--gives the reader a better idea of the transitions that took place during the battle. The foreword first juxtaposes the gray (Confederate ) and the blue armies as they stand in the third year of the war (June 1863), directly before the Battle of Gettysburg (July 13). The Confederates are moving deeper into the North (towards Harrisburg, PA) and want to draw the Union army out into the open for a conclusive battle. The Union army gives chase under shaky leadership. Shaara introduces the nine key Confederate characters (Lee, Longstreet, Pickett, Ewell, Hill, Armistead, Garnett, Stuart, and Early) and the main five Union characters (Chamberlain, Buford, Reynolds, Meade, and Hancock). The soldiers advance north through Maryland and Pennsylvania is marked by heat and rain; the local civilians have fled and left vacant towns to greet the marching soldiers. Point of View 3 rd person omniscient present tense Shaara used a third-person omniscient point of view in the present tense for the forward. He wrote the rest of the book in past tense, but used present tense for this section because it gives a sense of imminent action. "Omniscient" means that the narrator knows all, so even though a chapter might be told from Longstreet or Chamberlains point of view, the reader is still told about events that Longstreet or Chamberlain do not know about. The narrator clearly has knowledge of the future: "Lee had been down that Spring with the first assault of the heart disease which will eventually kill him." (p.xvi) STYLE Specific language, foreshadowing, & juxtaposition Shaaras style is simple and straightforward. He uses short sentences and low to neutral diction (he sometimes uses slang in the narration but generally avoids excessively flowery or complex phrases). Specific Language: Lee is "five feet ten inches tall but very short in the legs, so that when he rides a horse he seems much taller." These details enable readers to become more engrossed in the setting and imagine what it would be like to be there. Through such seemingly inconsequential details (physical appearance, eccentric habits, gossip) Shaara creates believable characters. Dramatic irony: Dramatic irony occurs when a character misjudges a situation while readers see everything correctly. Because this work of historical fiction is closely based on the Civil War battle at Gettysburg, the reader knows whats going to happen at the end of the book and beyond. Since readers know the Confederacy is going to lose both the battle and the war and that the conflict will drag on for two more years, they find it amusing when Pickett "worries constantly that he will miss the last great battle of the war." (p.xvii) Lees knowledge that a letter offering peace is to be sent to Lincoln after

the Confederate victory is ironic for the same reasons. (p. xvi) Foreshadowing: The readers knowledge of whats going to happen also makes foreshadowing a little awkward, but Shaara manages. Ewell "approaches Gettysburg unsure of himself." Ewell will later hesitate to take an enemy position as ordered. Longstreet "opposed the invasion of Pennsylvania." The invasion fails mainly because Lee did not heed Longstreets advice to fight more defensively. Armistead "looks forward to the reunion with Hancock, which will take place at Gettysburg." This last example is less foreshadowing and more a blatant explanation of whats going to happen, but the line between the two is thin in the field of historical fiction. Historical irony: The Rebs--who are low on food, shoes, clothing, payment, and education--are much more high-spirited and successful than the well-stocked Union army. This is due in part to their unity, as mentioned in the Union vs. Confederacy theme. June 29, 1863: Chapters 12 SummaryChapter 1: The Spy Daytime, Taneytown, Pennsylvania, a town near Gettysburg. Harrison, a Confederate spy, discovers a large mass of Union troops moving north. The Union troops are moving dangerously close to the Confederate army. Harrison returns in the middle of the night to the Confederate camp and reports his discovery to General James Longstreet. Longstreet is skeptical at first, but Harrison convinces him that he has actually seen the Union troops. Longstreet quickly wakes up General Robert E. Lee, commander of the Confederate army. Lee is also skeptical, since he has sent General J. E. B. Stuart out with his cavalry to keep an eye on the movements of the Union army. But Longstreet believes that Stuart is out joyriding. Longstreet presses Lee to get the army moving west. Lee agrees, deciding to move toward a town called Gettysburg. MONDAY, JUNE 29, 1863 (PART I) "Monday," the first and shortest of the books four sections, introduces the reader to the circumstances directly before fighting begins. The Confederate spy tells Lee of the nearby Union brigades and Lee decides to make towards the town of Gettysburg; Chamberlain successfully adopts the mutineers thrown upon his Union division and continues to march north; Bufords Union cavalry runs into "blind" Confederate infantry just north of town and establishes a defensive position; and Longstreets Confederate infantry makes their way east to get involved in the fledgling Gettysburg conflict. THE SPY (Chapter 1 of Part I) By using a spy character, Shaara gives the reader information about the "starting points" of both armies and introduces Longstreet (who, along with Chamberlain, is one of the two main protagonists in the book). Harrison, a spy hired by Longstreet, discovers nearby Union troop movement and reports back to the Confederate camp. His information--which is crucial because the Rebel infantry has been left "blind" on account of Stuarts absence--means that the Union army is pursuing the Confederate forces into Pennsylvania. Harrison approaches the Confederate camp during the rainy night and is treated with disdain by the sentries. Longstreet receives the spys report but isnt sure whether or not to trust him. Because the absence of cavalry has made the situation desperate, Longstreet

decides he must trust Harrison and leads the spy to Lee. Harrison repeats the report to Lee--adding that Meade had replaced Hooker as head of the Union army--and is dismissed. Lee and Longstreet discuss Harrisons news, Stuarts absence, and Meade. Lee considers his options and then orders the army to march to Gettysburg, where he hopes to destroy the Union forces. Point of View 3 rd person omniscient past tense In this chapter Shaara uses third person omniscient, as he does for the entire book. But this chapter and the following chapters break with the foreword in that they are written in the past tense and are clearly from a participants subjective perspective (the Chamberlain chapter is from Chamberlains perspective, etc). STYLE Speech imitation & Shakespeare allusions Shaara continues with his terse style of short sentences that mimic the thought process or speech: "Where was Stuart? No escort now." (p.5) Shaara uses parallel construction ("having spread panic and rage and despair through the North" p.xv) and repetition ("So finding the headquarters was not the problem. The problem was riding through a picket line in the dark" p.4) to accentuate his writing and to make it even more like human thought or speech.

SummaryChapter 2: Chamberlain

Daytime, several miles south of Gettysburg. Union Colonel Joshua L. Chamberlain is awakened by Buster Kilrain, a former sergeant who was demoted to private after assaulting another officer. Kilrain informs him that their regiment, the Twentieth Maine, has just received 120 men from the Second Maine, which has been disbanded. The new men are mutineers, having expected to be sent home after the disbanding of their regiment. The men are now being kept under guard, and Chamberlain has orders to shoot any man who does not agree to march. Chamberlain is joined by his younger brother, Tom, also a member of the Twentieth Maine. Chamberlain obtains food for the mutineers, then meets with their leader. The leader tells him that the mutineers are tired of the war and the inept Union generals who have been running it, and they want to go home. Chamberlain knows he cannot let them go, but he also cannot bring himself to shoot them. He tells them his predicament, then gives a stirring speech in which he asks them to join the Twentieth Maine. All but six men agree. CHAMBERLAIN (Chapter 2 of Part I) An introduction to Chamberlain, who (along with Longstreet) is one of the books two main protagonists

Colonel Joshua Chamberlain is the commander of the 20 th Maine Regiment. As he leads his men on the long march to Gettysburg to reinforce the Union position, he falls ill to sunstroke. His younger brother Tom and his "fatherly" aide Kilrain help him cope with the sunstroke affliction. Chamberlain is soon presented with a dilemma: the army has dumped one hundred and twenty mutinous Maine men in his lap, with orders to shoot any man who wont fight. The mutineers had accidentally signed three-year enlistments when the rest of their old regiment only signed up for two years. Since the rest of the regiment went home, they want to be discharged rather than fight again. When the mutineers refused to fight, the army officers tried to break them through harsh treatment and starvation. When that failed, the men were sent to Chamberlain. Chamberlain is faced with the task of convincing the men to follow him, and approaches it with kindness (as contrasted with the malice exhibited by the Pennsylvania captain who delivered the mutineers). Chamberlains experience as a professor has prepared him for situations like this: he knows how to deal with unruly individuals without using violence, whether those unruly characters are students or soldiers. By giving an open and honest speech (" What were all fighting for, in the end, is each other "--p.30) to the mutineers, he convinces the vast majority of them to take up arms and join his regiment--nearly doubling the number of troops under his command. STYLE Original vocabulary and irony Original adjectives & Original verbs: Shaara uses choice adjectives ("murderous," "flaming") and verbs ("boiled") to describe the days heat in a way that would emphasize Chamberlains heat stroke. (p.17) Chamberlains heat stroke is described in this simile: "He felt an eerie fragility, like a piece of thin glass in high hot wind." (p.17) Soliloquy: Shaara recreates the thought process in Chamberlains mind through a combination of long internal "soliloquy" monologues and internal arguments. For example, Chamberlain debates with himself before deciding on how to speak to the mutineers: "Kilrain says tell the truth. Which is? Fight, or well shoot you. Not true, I wont shoot anybody." (p.27) A soliloquy is literally a speech made by a character, alone on stage, directly to the audience. However, the term also applies to the long deliberations that occur inside Chamberlains head because the Colonel reveals so many thoughts and feelings on a single topic. Directly before speaking with the mutineers, Chamberlain questions himself on why he is fighting: "They [the Confederate s] were forming a new aristocracy, a new breed of glittering men, and Chamberlain had come to crush it." (p.27) The theme of why each man is fighting will be gone over later, but Kilrain is also fighting to destroy the landed aristocracy: " Ill be treated as I deserve, not as my father deserved. " (p.178) Irony & Idealism vs. Realism & Vietnam: Chamberlains deliberates on the irony of his situation: he must force men to fight for freedom. As a side note, this book was written during the Vietnam War, a war for which men were drafted in order to defend freedom. AnalysisJune 29, 1863: Chapters 12 Michael Shaara has a difficult task in front of him as the novel begins. The Killer Angels is generally referred to as a historical novel, but most historical novels are simply set in

a certain time period and do not deal directly with the actions of people who really existed. For instance, Stephen Cranes classic Civil War novel, The Red Badge of Courage, follows a fictional soldier through several battles. The Killer Angels is more similar to the historical plays of William ShakespeareShaara gives a dramatized account of history, using characters and events drawn from real life. As such, parts of the book, especially the dialogue and the thoughts of the characters, are Shaaras creation, not based on documented history. Shaara based his characterizations primarily on the letters and memoirs of the soldiers and officers involved in the battle, but there is no way of knowing exactly what these officers really thought or said. These two chapters introduce three of the books most important characters: Lee, Longstreet, and Chamberlain. The Confederate point of view swings back and forth from Lee to Longstreet. Lee is an old man, a gentleman and a classic soldier of an earlier era who is brilliant in the type of tactics he was taught. Longstreet is something of a visionary, a man who is very aware of the changing nature of war as machines and defensive warfare become more important. Their differing perceptions of the nature of war form the backbone of the difficult relationship between these two men. Longstreet adores his commander, and he finds it difficult to argue with him. Ultimately, Longstreet always backs down in an argument with Lee, because he knows that he could never have the support of the army the way Lee does. But Longstreet is stubborn, and he constantly tries to convince Lee to fight defensively, encouraging Lee to move his troops to a different battlefield rather than fight the Union army on terrain that puts the Confederacy at a disadvantage. Colonel Joshua L. Chamberlain is practically the only Union voice in the novel. Chamberlain is not a general, as are most of the major characters on the Confederate side. He is only a colonel, the leader of a regiment. There are a number of reasons that the novel follows Chamberlains point of view when presenting the Union side. In the years following the Civil War, it became more and more apparent that the war had been decided at Gettysburg. It was the high point of the Confederacy, when the Confederate army, flushed with success, actually invaded Union territory. If Lee had been successful in destroying the Union army or capturing Washington, D.C., the North would have had to admit defeat, and the Confederacy would have been established as a new country. But the Union won the Battle of Gettysburg, and the battle itself was largely determined by the Battle of Little Round Top. Holding the extreme left flank of the army, Chamberlain led his regiment, which had run out of ammunition, down the hillside in a bayonet charge against the Confederate forces. The charge succeeded in repelling the Confederates, and Little Round Top was saved. As the years went by, the fighting on Little Round Top became more and more legendary, and by choosing to center on Chamberlain, Shaara focuses on one of the most popular characters of the battle. Furthermore, the real Chamberlain led a fascinating life. He was a professor at Bowdoin College at the time of the war, left the college to fight, and distinguished himself as an excellent soldier by the end of the war. It was Chamberlain who accepted the surrender of the Confederate forces at Appomattox. Chapter 2 establishes the contrast between Chamberlain the college professor and Chamberlain the soldier. He is an unusually educated and thoughtful man compared with many other soldiers. For many, he is the

easiest character with whom to identify, since he is not only a citizen-turned-soldier, but also only a colonel, not a higher-ranked commander or general like the other principal characters. In contrast, Lee and Longstreet represent heroic, almost mythical figures. Chamberlain, while also a source of nostalgic glory, is still a common citizen thrown into war. June 29, 1863: Chapters 34 SummaryChapter 3: Buford Daytime, Gettysburg. General John Buford, commander of the Union cavalry, enters Gettysburg with his two brigades: 2,500 men, all mounted on horses. Buford is scouting the land ahead of the Union army. He spots a brigade of Confederate infantry in the town, and he is surprised to see them apparently without cavalry. He decides to remain in Gettysburg and sends a message back to the infantry commander, General John Reynolds, telling him that he has occupied Gettysburg and expects an even larger Confederate force to arrive the next morning. Buford surveys the area around the town and notices its high ground. Buford rides through the middle of the town with his men. The townspeople are relieved to see Union troops. Buford decides to occupy the hills with his men. They dismount and get ready to fight on foot. He hopes to prevent the Confederates from taking the high ground the next day until Reynolds arrives with his troops. BUFORD (Chapter 3 of Part I) The armies first meet The chapters first paragraph is from the perspective of the Confederate infantry who are marching towards Gettysburg. As these soldiers get out of the rolling hills just to the west of the town they spot Union cavalry on the road south of Gettysburg. The point of view then switches to the eyes of John Buford, commander of the two Union cavalry divisions sent to hunt down the invading Confederate force. Buford and Gamble, one of Bufords brigade commanders, consider how odd it is that Confederate infantry are moving through the North without cavalry scouts. The two are discussing how superb the ground is (the ridges just south of town) and making plans for entrenching when the distant Rebel infantry turn around and retreat back towards the hills. Buford, an experienced ex-frontier fighter, has a hunch that Lee is not withdrawing from the town but only bringing his lead infantry back into the group before they return en masse. Buford guesses, correctly, that Lee will abandon his path towards Harrisburg and head towards the small town of Gettysburg once his troops are collected. Just before Buford leaves the hill-top cemetery from which he has been watching the Rebs, he notices a white angel statue. He rides down into town and starts up the Cashtown road that the Confederate infantry had been taking into town before their withdrawal. Buford sees the Reb column still making its way west. He also spies its lone officer, a "gentleman," Buford notices with disgust. After his scouts return with the information that Lee is in fact turning and coming towards the town, Buford writes to Reynolds to send reinforcements but is afraid that Lee will return and take the town and the surrounding hills before the Union infantry can make it. Nonetheless, he takes the risk and establishes a defensive position northwest of town.

STYLE Shaara uses similes, juxtaposition, symbols, metaphors, vernacular language, and alliteration to get his point across. Similes: The chapters opening sentence uses a simile with water imagery comparing the ridges west of Gettysburg to waves. (p.33) Water imagery is found throughout the book in Shaaras likening the armies to floods, dams, and rivers. Shaara compares Bufords tracking the Confederate army to a hunters tracking a big cat. This simile ties into the instinct theme: Bufords gut feeling on what Lee is doing is often what the cavalry leader acts on. (p.36) "The hills rose like watchtowers." With this simile, Shaara makes another reference to the theme of good ground. (p.37) "...the hills, dominant as castles..." (p.41) This quotation also touches on the theme of good ground. Juxtaposition: Shaara uses juxtaposition to compare the neat, quiet, and peaceful town of Gettysburg to the unruly, loud, and war-bringing horde of Union cavalry. (p.33) Juxtaposition & Soldiers Past Experiences: The neat and tidy east is juxtaposed in Bufords mind with his memories of Kentucky (where he was born). The east is too neat for war, with not enough room. Kentucky has a "feel of space, of size, a great starry roof overhead, a great wind blowing." (p.44) We are again reminded of Bufords affinity with the wide open spaces of his youth when, at the chapters end, he closes his eyes and sees, "miles and miles of Wyoming snow, and white mountains in the distance, all clean and incredibly still, and no man anywhere." (p.48) Metaphor: Shaara uses a metaphor to compare the Union cavalry line to a "long blue smoking snake." (p.33) Serpent metaphors and similes can be found throughout the book. SummaryChapter 4: Longstreet Nighttime, Confederate camp west of Gettysburg. The Confederate officers try to teach Lieutenant Arthur Fremantle, a British military observer, how to play poker. Longstreet muses on the upcoming battle. One of his aides, Sorrel, informs Longstreet that a soldier spotted Union cavalry in Gettysburg. The reporting officers commander, General Hill, thinks he must have seen a state militia, but Longstreet is not sure. Longstreet continues to brood, chatting briefly with Fremantle. General George Pickett, a good soldier and a perfumed dandy, arrives, much to everyones pleasure. Other officers under Picketts command also arrive: Lew Lo Armistead, Jim Kemper, and Dick Garnett. Picketts division has not had much action. Now, the division has been placed at the rear of the army. Pickett approaches Longstreet and asks that his division be moved up, but Longstreet refuses, adding that if the army has to turn and run, Picketts division will then be leading the fight to escape. Pickett leaves and Longstreet then talks to Armistead. Armisteads old friend, General Winfield Hancock, is in the Union army, and Longstreet speculates that he may soon meet his friendin battle. Longstreet tells Armistead that he would prefer to use defensive warfare tactics, such as trenches. Armistead replies that his

ideas are sound, but that the Confederate army is not the army to try them out on. Besides, Armistead says, General Lee would never agree to defensive warfare, because he thinks it is somewhat dishonorable. Back at the poker game, several of the players, including a Southern politician, become upset at Fremantle for saying that the war is over slavery. The next morning, skirmishes begin between Bufords men and the Confederate infantry in Gettysburg. LONGSTREET (Chapter 4 of Part I) Foreshadowing of Hills scuffle with Buford and introduction of the main Confederate characters Longstreet receives information that General Hill plans on marching into Gettysburg the next morning, despite reports from Harrison (the spy) and others that Union cavalry are in the town. Then a lighthearted Pickett rides into camp with his three brigade commanders: the elderly Armistead, the withdrawn Garnett, and the political Kemper. Longstreet introduces the four to Fremantle, a comical English soldier observing for the Queen. Longstreet then sits down with Armistead and they discuss the new trench strategies, Hancock (the Union commander who used to be Armisteads best friend), whether morale alone can win battles, and General Lee. Longstreet and Armistead return to the group around the camps fire to find several men explaining "The Cause" to Fremantle, who had previously thought the war centered on slavery. Sorrel asserts that government derives its power from the consent of the governed and that the South simply does not consent to the Union. Kemper likens the Union to a central tyranny, while Pickett compares the Union to a gentlemans club that the South wanted to quit. The chapter ends with a Confederate private (from Longstreets camp) watching Bufords men setting up in the rain. STYLE Juxtaposition & Parallel Construction: "Sorrel moved off into a burst of laughter, a cloud of lovely tobacco. Longstreet sat brooding." (p.52) Extended Metaphor: "There was something about the man [Fremantle], prepared for flight, that made Longstreet grin. He was a scrawny man, toothy, with a pipelike neck and a monstrous Adams apple. He looked like a popeyed bird who had just swallowed something large and sticky and triangular. He was wearing a tall gray hat and a remarkable coat with very wide shoulders, like wings." (p.52-53). Note that even when Shaara is not directly comparing Fremantle to a bird, he is describing Fremantle as a bird-like figure (i.e. pipelike neck). Similes: "They [the brigade commanders Armistead, Garnett, and Kemper] rode toward Longstreet like ships through a gleeful surf." (p.54) "...skirmishers. Long, long rows, like walking trees." (p.67-68)

"But she [Longstreets wife] was not fine. He felt a spasm of pain like a blast of sudden cold, saw the patient high-boned Indian face, that beautiful woman, indelible suffering." (p.62) AnalysisJune 29, 1863: Chapters 34 The most important event in Chapter 3 is Bufords decision to try and hold the high ground. The high ground consists of four hills: Culps Hill, Cemetery Hill, Little Round Top, and Round Top. The hills are all connected by a long, crescent-shaped ridge called Cemetery Ridge. This high ground will be important throughout the entire novel. Control of the high ground gives an army several things: a good view of the entire battlefield; an excellent place from which to fire off artillery, meaning cannons; and a good defensive position. It is much more difficult to run uphill toward an enemy than it is to fire downhill at one. Little Round Top, in particular, has a lot of rocks that give good coverage against bullets and is so bare that it affords a view of several miles around. Civil War historians generally agree that the high ground was critical in the Battle of Gettysburg, and, therefore, Buford made an excellent move in realizing that fact and protecting it. The chapter also reveals the difficult decisions a soldier must make, especially in the absence of his superior officers. Buford is unsure whether the Confederates are really coming, and he is particularly worried that if he decides to try and stop the Confederates from taking the hill, General Reynolds will not arrive in time to save Bufords brigades from heavy casualties and help keep the Confederates off the hills. By switching the narrative point of view between the storys characters, Shaara is able to show how differently the various participants perceived the battle. Shaara establishes a pattern of choosing a single person on which to focus in each chapter, giving us only that persons perspective on the situation. This kind of narration is known as third-person subjective. This is different from an omniscient narrator, who can dive into the thoughts of any character and can make comments and judgments external to the story. For instance, in Chapter 3, an omniscient narrator might tell us what Bufords aide is thinking or comment in his own voice on how clever it was for Buford to secure the high ground. On the other hand, a subjective narrator never leaves the point of view of the character on which he is focused: we never read the thoughts of Bufords aide, we only read Bufords own thoughts. A subjective narrator does not interrupt the narration to make aside comments: the narrator might tell us what Bufords personality or mood was like, but he would not remark on the importance of Bufords decision to grab the high ground. Also, this use of third-person subjective narration creates a sense of suspense in a story whose outcome we already know. Shaaras use of this form of third-person subjective narration means we are not always getting all the information about what is happening. Buford only knows his own thoughts: he does not know what General Reynolds is doing at any given moment, and he does not know what his aide is thinking unless he asks him. This style gives a very realistic portrayal of what events might have looked like to a participant, and in a novel that uses real-life historical characters, it is important for Shaara to make the characters seem as realistic as possible. People have been reading about Robert E. Lee, James Longstreet, and Joshua Chamberlain for more than a century. If Shaara wrote in the third-person omniscient point of view, the novel might have read like a very detailed history textbook. By using the subjective narration, Shaara draws us

much deeper into the intricacies of characterization and mood, as opposed to merely the plot summary of the Gettysburg story. Chapter 4 is an excellent example of this technique of limited perspective. It is a long chapter that serves primarily to introduce the moody, intelligent Longstreet, who has recently lost three children and no longer socializes with his troops. The chapter also introduces nearly a dozen other characters, such as the pompous English lieutenant, Arthur Fremantle, and the dandy General Pickett. Fremantle serves primarily to reinforce the long-held romantic notion that the predominantly Anglo-Saxon Confederate officers were true gentlemen who passed their wealth on from generation to generation, in the tradition of British high society. In contrast, the Northern officers came from many different ethnic backgrounds and from a society in which anyone who earned enough money could become rich and a member of the social elite.

Вам также может понравиться