The American Civil War - 1117 Words

The novel March is one of the greatest depictions of the American Civil War in all of literature. March gives the reader an in-depth look at the everyday struggles of the United States through a soldier prospective during this time. It also show that even during this time of what was supposed to be revamping of the nation, many citizens and slaves alike in the broken mindsets that have led up to this point. One of the greatest examples of this is the relationship between Mr. Canning a lawyer for Illinois and the slaves at Oak Landing. This relationship is introduced to the reader in chapter six when the main character Mr. March who is a Chaplin in the union army is reassigned to this plantation. While at dinner with Mr. Canning on his very†¦show more content†¦One critic described the book very well saying â€Å"Brook’s affecting, beautifully written novel drives home the intimate hours and ironies of the Civil War and the difficulty of living honestly with the knowl edge of human suffering.† Publishers Weekly. This is exactly what the writer conveys to the reader in this novel. One of the many ongoing themes through the novel is the idea of conflict in the hearts of many of the main characters. Another critic simply said of the novel â€Å"Honorable, elegant and true.† John Freeman, The Wall Street Journal. Though this analysis of the book is short, it is important because it gets directly to the heart of the book. The reader must understand that this novel is simply one of the truest depictions of what this time was in America. While the novel March has many key moments, a few tend to stick out to the reader more than others. Among these are events like the opening of the story where March has just nearly avoided death during the battle of Ball’s Bluff. Soon after this battle he writes to his wife and children and tells them of the beauty of the sky that he sees in front of him and his longing for their love. Here we see for the first time that he uses his letters to his family as a cooping mechanism for all of the things that are going on around him. Not soon after, the reader is presented with another key moment in the story as March is reflecting. He thinks back to when he was about twenty years old and