Preview

character valor and dignity

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1221 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
character valor and dignity
Character, Self-respect and Dignity

Analysis of The movie Glory

Glory, a 1989 film based on the personal letters of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, the novel One Gallant Rush and Lay This Laurel. Robert Shaw trained and led the first black volunteer infantry in history during the civil war. The story line is full of racism, politics, corruption, loyalty, perseverance and identity. It is written as seen through the eyes of Officer Robert Gould Shaw and shows the valor and courage of a group of soldiers fighting against their own superior’s racism to achieve their desire to serve their country. I will reflect on the ethics and virtues of this film and compare the characters actions to Aristotle, Epictetus and St. Augustine philosophies.

Captain Robert Shaw is injured in the Battle of Antietam and sent home to heal with his family. He meets abolitionist Frederick Douglass, a former slave. Shaw is offered a promotion to colonel and command of the first all black regiment in the union army. The 54th Massachusetts volunteer infantry. He accepts and recruits his childhood friend Major Cabot Forbes. Their first volunteers are Thomas Searles, Rawlins, Jupiter and Trip. Trip does not get along with Searles and Rawlins tries to step in to mediate.

Shaw knows from the start that his troops may never get to see actual fire. AS they are the first troop of its kind, he believes they will be used primarily for general labor instead of true soldiers. In spite of his beliefs, he puts his troop through rigorous training to help them learn the importance of alertness, momentum and endurance. The confederacy issues an order to shoot any soldier in a union uniform that is black and any white commanding officer associated with the troop. The men of the 54th infantry are given the option of an honorable discharge, none do. Trip disappears and is believed to be AWOL by Shaw. When Trip is found, Shaw orders him flogged in front of everyone until he sees trips scars, he

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In return he acted out in hate by bullying the other black soldiers in his regiment. He was the one in the movie to start a rebellion among the soldiers when the Union cut their pay from thirteen dollars to teen dollars. He started going around and telling everybody to refuse the pay and to tear it up. He portrayed the character that nobody was going to get the best of him without a fight. This showed all the rest of the soldiers that they were good enough and deserved to be there to fight. Private Tripp also showed that the color of is skin affected him tremendously when him and Shaw were sitting down at the lake talking. Shaw told Tripp that he would be honored for him to carry the flag into battle the next day. Tripp refused and stated that he could not take the flag into battle because nobody was going to win the war. Tripp stated that the war was going to keep on going, and when if it did end that Shaw was…

    • 712 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the essay “Foot Soldiers of the Revolutionary Army” by Gary B. Nash, the authors of the book tell of a Private Joseph Plumb Martin that kept a diary that details the life and hardships that the soldiers endured. Martin writes, “The army was now not only starved but naked. The greatest part were not only shirtless and barefoot but destitute of all other clothing, especially blankets.” (Gary Nash 124) The blacks were involved given the chance to receive freedom, which did not follow through completely. Although the colonies needed men for the army, these two simple sentences exposed the truth that people didn’t know at the time and even now.…

    • 436 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Glory Review

    • 629 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Glory was a movie that was filmed in 1989 where it written by Kevin Jarre and was based on the personal letters of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. Glory was mainly about the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, which was the first actual US Army that is compromised of only African American men. Colonel Robert Gould Shaw was the commanding officer during the American Civil War. He was also the son of an influential abolitionist. Also Glory portrayed many African American who had volunteered for the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry.…

    • 629 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Joseph Miller, a former slave, enlisted in the Union army under the promise from the federal government that his family would be given food, shelter, and clothing, in exchange for his service as an enlisted soldier.21 However, when Union soldiers ordered his family to leave the tent they occupied, Miller wrote he “told him [a soldier] that I was a soldier of the United States. He told that it did not make any difference.”22 These types of empty promises made by the Union government were only slightly referenced in the film, such as the pay of African American men, $10, versus white soldiers, $13.23 Downs writes about these empty promises in his essay, stating, “the military often fail[ed] to pay black soldiers, or paid them less than promised.”24 This is seen slightly in the film, however, the film portrayed it as a one-time occurrence, rather than a continuous pattern of failing to pay…

    • 764 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Racists attitudes left many whites with low expectations for black troops. But performance in battle proved these expectations false. On July 18, 1863, after the heavy land and sea bombardment subsided, Gillmore sent forward his Federal regiments. The assault was led by the 54thMassachusetts regiment; a Boston regiment filled with free African-Americans, and led by the Harvard educated Col. Robert Gould Shaw. The decision to have the 54th Massachusetts lead this dangerous attack was fraught with all sorts of political and military risk, but in the end it was Shaw’s men that led the attack up the narrow beach. As the Federal soldiers neared the fort they were subjected to artillery and musket fire that shredded the exposed Yankee ranks. Despite their heavy losses, the remnants of the 54th Massachusetts reached and scaled the earthen walls of Fort Wagner. Descending into the fort, the 54th engaged in a bloody hand-to-hand struggle with the Confederate defenders. Col. Shaw, shouting “Onward boys! Onward boys!” was quickly shredded by a number of Confederate bullets and died on the sandy ramparts. By…

    • 488 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    54th Regiment Essay

    • 1040 Words
    • 5 Pages

    They gained more recognition than most other regiments. In a society that claims to have many race problems, these regiments, especially the 54th, are important to study for everyone regardless of stance and political party. This is important to see how far the military has come and the origins of racial integration in the military. Shaw is important to study because he truly was able to lead his men and gain their respect, a lesson that modern day military leaders could study in order to better the military. Overall, the 54th Mass and its importance during the Civil War is crucial in understanding race in the Union Army during the Civil…

    • 1040 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    1. This soldier’s grievance was because of the unfair pay to the black soldiers and how they were being treated as Laborers instead of Soldiers. In his appeal to Lincoln he stressed that the black men were willing to give up so much for the nation such as aiding his country in need and was refused but now that they are about to and are doing it with obedience and patients only lacking a paler hue and…

    • 788 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Killer Angels Shaara

    • 770 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Has a heart condition that will eventually kill him. Even being the most loved man in the whole army he would risk his men for the ultimate victory. A religious man and believes that he is responsible for carrying out God's will. Having never owned a slave and not believe in slavery, he does believes that the Negro’s should not be considered equal like the white man. During battle Hill and Ewell are the new corps commanders and Lee is concerned they will not live up to Jacksons set standards. During battle Lee enjoys Longstreet’s company, needing his support and strength, depending on him throughout the war. Lee views Longstreet as a strong and magnificent soldier, whom is the rock of the army. This makes him concerned for Longstreet’s safety. Lee's decision to join the Confederacy stems from his alliance with Virginia. He fights for his people and family, he feels fighting for land is not worth a war. Lee is aware he is breaking an oath that he had taken by invading the North and knows he will pay for it in some way. During war Lee is a fan of offensive Napoleonic warfare…

    • 770 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The movie “Glory” discloses the story and history behind the 54th Massachusetts Infantry. This infantry became the first black unit to fight in the Civil War for the North. The unit was formed up of black soldiers; some Northern freemen, and some were slaves that had escaped. The leader was General Robert Gould Shaw, the son of one of the top Boston abolitionists. The men of the 54th Regiment proved themselves worthy of the freedom for which they were fighting for and to gain the respect of their fellow white soldiers they fought with. Although the white soldiers fought along their fellow Black soldiers, there were often discrepancies in communication and treatment, that led to character development throughout the movie.…

    • 1052 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Steven Covey studied over 200 years of writing about success. While studying these writings he began to recognize a distinct pattern surfacing. He found these writings attributed success to either Character Ethic or Personality Ethic. The majority of the literature of in the first 150 years focused on the philosophy referred to as Character Ethic. The foundations for success are based upon integrity, humility, fidelity, temperance, courage, justice, patience, industry, simplicity, modesty, and the Golden Rule. This idea insists that true success can only be achieved if these principles are integrated into the basic character. The shift from Character Ethic to Personality Ethic occurred shortly after World War I. Success literature of the past 50 years credits success as more of a function of personality, public image, attitudes and behaviors, skills, and techniques. Covey suggests that personality traits are secondary to Character traits. If the character is flawed, mistrust and manipulation may be perceived, and there is no…

    • 2369 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The gallantry proposition – valor implies treating others, particularly ladies with kindness, sensitivity and regard. The valor hypothesis expresses that ladies are dealt with more tolerantly than men by the criminal equity framework. Male valor implies that the police are less inclined to charge ladies, and the courts will tend to give ladies a lighter sentence, notwithstanding when they have conferred an indistinguishable offenses from…

    • 66 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Human Dignity

    • 1691 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Our existence as human being is complementary with our missions or goals in life. It somehow tells us what we want, what we need, and what we aspire of in due period of time. Personally, I do believe that those reasons of our existence, being alive, here and now are primarily based on that goal. Unless we might say, it is the need of the rope. Stop! And life is just until there. Absolutely, it could not be. If then, one might be foolish to do or to be such. Most probably, the way we crave for something that will fulfill our existence could be based on palpable experience, external things. In usual and plebeian way of life, it is actually true and might be for it manifests giving value by fulfilling all the potentialities that we have given by Someone’s gift of life.…

    • 1691 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Arms and the Man 3

    • 911 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Shaw develops a perfectly ironic contrast between the two central male characters form the beginning to the end. At the start of the play we are given an account of Major Sergius Saranoff's, a handsome young Bulgarian officer, victory in a daring cavalry raid, which turned the war in favor of the Bulgarians over the Serbs. In contrast, Captain Bluntschil, a professional soldier from Switzerland, acts like a coward. He climbs up to a balcony to escape capture, he threatens a woman with a gun, and he carries chocolates rather than cartridges because he claims the sweets are more useful on the battlefield.…

    • 911 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Romantic period saw war as the opportunity for a man to show courage and bravery. Hence, Sergius, though it is his foolishness that led to the victory of the Bulgarians, is worshipped by Raina as the ideal hero. Yet, the more we learn, the more we are made to realise that Sergius, who is the representation of the traditional heroism in war, is only a caricature that desperately clings to his romanticised ideal of a hero. Little by little, Shaw deconstructs society's myth about heroism. Indeed, Sergius, first presented as being the hero proves to be an arrogant full of vanity and an obstinate fool. He is seen as incapable of helping Captain Bluntschli with troop movements and flirts with Louka, Raina's maid, whenever they are alone. On the other hand, Shaw provides the reader with a much more practical and realistic image of a soldier through the character of Captain Bluntschli. Bluntschli has escaped from a horrific battle after three days of being under fire and therefore represents the real experience of a professional soldier. Shaw believes that one requires a futile nature to be able to take up the "Arms" and via Bluntschli, he demonstrates that a soldier can…

    • 636 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    human dignity

    • 2491 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Nowadays human dignity is everywhere, to the public place, to the political, economic, social or medical concept. Dignity is defined as a moral, legal, ethical or political term that means a being has an innate right to be treating equitability.…

    • 2491 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays