•
I- INTRODUCTION: (You
don’t need to do anything additional here, aside from reading this.
Otherwise,
just leave this in place.)
There are many things to discuss
with regards to this historical film. For this
assignment,
you’re just going to discuss, analyze, and think about certain key characters:
their
backgrounds, their attitudes, their actions and interactions, and their changes
(or lack
of
changes) over the course of the story. Briefly support your responses with examples,
evidence,
and/or quotations from the film. You should also think about what kind of
lessons
the film might contain that could be of use to us today.
•
II- CHARACTERS IN THE FILM
•
A- The white Union soldiers in Readville Camp,
Massachusetts (the training camp):
How do these soldiers respond to the
arrival of the African American soldiers?
The white
Union soldiers in Readville Camp took the arrival of the African American
soldiers as a complete joke. They were screaming insults at them because they
felt that they were better soldiers than they would ever be. Those insults
included: “Would you look at what’s walking in here?”, “I’d rather have a hog
than a nigger. At least you could eat the hog!”, “It’s getting dark mighty
early around here!”, and “Come on! Show us a little dance, will you, boys?”
They weren’t showing any respect to these people, even though there were
scholars among them, including Thomas Searles we worked for Robert Shaw’s
father, and he could read very well. Basically, the white soldiers were showing
the African American soldiers complete disrespect, even though they would be
fighting alongside them as a team.
• B- Sgt. Mulcahy: the
drill sergeant in the training camp
• 1- What is his ethnicity, and
how—according to dialogue in the film—might this influence
his
attitude towards the African American soldiers?
Sgt. Mulcahy
is a white and Irish man. According to the dialogue in the film, a man says to
Thomas, “You know, the Irish are not noted for their fondness for the
coloreds.” This definitely influences his attitude for the African American
soldiers. He thinks that they are all stupid, uneducated, and incapable of
being great soldiers, just because he and his lineage are racist towards them
because of their skin color.
• 2- Describe his
actual attitude and actions towards the African American soldiers.
Sgt. Mulcahy
is very rude to the African American soldiers. He said things to all of them as
a group, and he would randomly pick out some single people to pick on them.
Some things that he said to the group were, “You are ugly Mexican, African
fucking whores!”, “You bloody Hindus, get it right!”, and he told them they
were marching like a bunch of goats. When he picked on one of the single
soldiers, he came to find out tht he didn’t know his right from his left. And,
he felt the need to hit him and stomp on his feet in order to teach him the
difference between his directions. Another single soldier he picked on, he said
some terrible things to him. He said things like: “You half-wit black bastard.
Is it true they cut your balls off at birth? I’m gonna work on you, you
bastard, until I get you broken.” Also, when he called out Thomas Searles and
said some awful things to him, Thomas got mad because he knows that he is
educated and shouldn’t be treated like that. So, when he turned his head to
retaliate, Sgt. Mulcahy got angry and told him to look forward, and he help his
head forward, as well. And also, after the soldiers were running, one of them
fell to the ground with exhaustion, and Sgt. Mulcahy kicked him and told him
how he’s not allowed to not stand until he was told to do so by him.
•
C- Col. Montgomery: a Union officer who leads a “Raid on
Combahee Ferry” in the South
• 1- What is his background and might
this influence his attitude towards the
African
American soldiers?
Col.
Montgomery was raised by his family in Kentucky as a slave owning family. So,
basically he doesn’t respect the African American soldiers as soldiers, he
still thinks of all African Americans being slaves. He grew up with this
mindset, and it still remains the same.
• 2- Describe his
actual attitude and actions towards the African American soldiers.
Col.
Montgomery treats the African American soldiers with complete disrespect. He
doesn’t believe that they are nearly equivalent to him. And also, he shoots one
of the soldiers when he gets in a fight with a white woman, and he doesn’t feel
bad at all. He blames the soldier, even though it wasn’t necessary to shoot
him. Also, he calls the soldiers “monkey children” which reiterates his
feelings towards them.
•
D- The white Union soldiers who file past the African American
soldiers soon after their
arrival in Georgia, and then just before
the assault on Fort Wagner, South Carolina
• 1- What happens when these white
soldiers march past the African American
soldiers
soon after their arrival in Georgia?
The African
American soldiers are trying to portray that they are better than the White
soldiers. One of them says, “What are looking at biscuit eaters? You think you
better than me? You think you my judge? You ain’t nothin’!” And then, Private
Trip starts a fight with them by saying that the war would be over a lot sooner
if they were sent to fight rather than to do manual labor.
• 2- What do these
same white soldiers do just before the African American soldiers lead the
assault
on Fort Wagner, South Carolina?
When the
African American soldiers were marching before they lead the assault on Fort
Wagner, the white soldiers stood on both sides of the group and they cheered
for them and waved their hats in respect and to encourage them to do well.
•
E- Col. Robert Gould Shaw
• 1- What is his background and might
this influence his attitude towards the
African
American soldiers?
Col. Robert
Gould Shaw is a wealthy, white man who is highly recognized for his performance
in war. Also, his father is very close with the governor, Abraham Lincoln, and
Frederick Douglass. I do think his background greatly affected his attitude
towards the African American soldiers, although, his opinions did change over
time. Robert Shaw was submitted by his father to be the commissioned colonel as
well, he did not volunteer.
• 2- Describe his actual attitude and
actions towards the African American soldiers.
To
what extent does his view of the African American soldiers change over the
course of the film?
In the
beginning of the movie, he did not support the idea of African American
soldiers, and I think this partly has to do with his background in war, and
knowing that there never were any African American soldiers. As the movie
continued, he did not know what was right and what was wrong. Like when one
soldier was held as a prisoner and whipped, and one man said to him that it
wasn’t the best idea to whip a former slave in front of other African
Americans, and Robert told that man to never question his authority. But, as
the movie went on, he started to fight for the rights of the African American
soldiers. He fought for them to have new shoes, even after he was told that
they couldn’t have any. And, when the soldiers were told they were getting paid
$10 an hour instead of the promised $13, he ripped up his commission paper with
all of the soldiers. Also, when Sgt. Mulcahy kicked Thomas for falling from
exhaustion after running, Robert told the Sgt. that he was being too hard on
the men. And, finally, at the end of the movie, Robert Shaw got off of his
horse and stood in front of all of the African American soldiers and fought
along side them. And after waiting for night to fall and they did their final
charge together, he was killed in combat, and he made it certain that he was to
be remembered by fighting with the soldiers if he were to fall, and he did. So,
I think hat Robert Shaw changed the most over the course of the movie.
•
F- Sergeant Major John Rawlins
• 1- What is his
basic background and how might this shape his general outlook on
the
world?
Major John
Rawlins is a wealthy African American who decided to fight as one of Robert
Shaw’s soldiers. Being African American, he clearly had hope that all of the
other soldiers would be able to fight in combat and quite possibly end the war.
• 2- Describe this
character.
Major John Rawlins had a lot
of confidence in the African American soldiers in the war. He also fought for
what was right. And example of this was when private Trip was being rude to
Thomas Searles, saying that no matter how good of a soldier he is, he will
never be respected as much as white soldiers are. Also, he was calling him a
nigger and when Rawlins heard this, he went up to Trip and slapped him and
said, “Ain’t no nigger around here, you hear me?” And then he said, “And all
the time I’m digging I’m asking myself, ‘When, O Lord, is it gonna be our
time?’ Well time’s coming when we’re gonna have to ante up. Ante up and kick in
like men. Like men! You watch who you call a nigger. If there’s any niggers
around here, it’s you. Smart-mouth, stupid-ass, swamp-running nigger. If you
ain’t careful, that’s all you ever gonna be.” By this quote, you can clearly
tell that Rawlins believes that all of the African American soldiers should be
supporting each other, and should never show any disrespect to each other. When
Rawlins says this to Trip, it really changes him, and I’ll get into that later.
•
G- Private Thomas Searles
• 1- What is his basic background and how
might this shape his general outlook on
the
world?
Private
Thomas Searles is a wealthy and extremely educated African American man who
worked for Colonel Shaw’s father. He, too, had confidence in the African
American soldiers, but when he was in drills, he felt extremely disrespected by
the Sergeant. Also, Trip constantly disrespected him because he was smarter
than him. But, I feel that Trip misunderstood Searles. At the beginning of the
movie, Searles offered to teach Trip how to read, and Trip was offended by
this. Anyways, being an African American man, his outlook on the world was
hopeful that African Americans would be equivalent to white people.
• 2- To what extent does this character
change over the course of the film?
Over the
course of the film, Thomas Searles changes a lot. In the beginning, I felt that
he thought he would be superior to the other soldiers just because he was very
educated and wealthy. But, during training, he learns that this is not the
case, because he is the only one to collapse after they run. Also, Thomas
expected to get more respect than the other soldiers from Robert just because
they grew up together. But, in war, this is not the case, as Robert
demonstrated when Thomas asked to speak with him privately, and Robert said
that he would have to asked the Sergeant for permission. Also, Thomas Searles
hated Trip because of how disrespectful he was to him all the time, but he
learned that in war you must work together. So, when Trip wasn’t looking, a
soldier from the other side was coming to stab him, and Searles came up from
behind him and killed him, thus saving Thomas’ life. This is the point in the
movie where I really realized how much Thomas Searles had changed. Also,
towards the end, Searles got shot in the shoulder, and he made Robert promise
him that he wouldn’t be sent back home to Boston because he wanted to continue
to fight. So, in the final fight at Fort Wagner, he fought alongside his fellow
soldiers, and he offered to carry the flag if the original flag bearer were to
fall in combat.
•
H- Private Silas Trip
• 1- What is his basic background and how
might this shape his general outlook on
the
world?
Private
Silas Trip is an African American man that never had any family and was a
slave. Since he was a slave, I feel like he feels that is amazing that he is
able to fight in the war and get paid for it, and I think that’s why he got so
mad when he found out that the African American soldiers were getting paid less
than they were promised. So, even though he was a slave, he still feels the
need to stand up for what he thinks is right. Also, from the movie, I can tell
that he feels that African Americans will never be treated like whites are.
But, that changes when Rawlins speaks to him.
• 2- To what extent does this character
change over the course of the film?
Trip changes
a lot throughout the movie. In the beginning, he disrespected a lot of his
fellow soldiers, by calling them snowflakes and niggers. But, he always felt
that he should stand up for what he thinks is right. He started a fight with
the white soldiers because he felt it was unfair that the African Americans
were training just to do hard labor. Also, he started the riot about not being
paid as much as they were promised. And even though people disagreed with what
he was saying, he still fought for his rights. That aspect of him never
changed. But, what did change was how he learned to work together with the rest
of the regimen. After Rawlins spoke to him, I feel like he changed a lot. After
that, he no longer disrespected any other African Americans. Also, he realized
what the bigger picture was, and that is to work together and to fight to win.
•
III- IN CLOSING
•
A- Based on what you’ve written above, offer a concluding thought--or some concluding
thoughts-
-about the characters in this film.
In
conclusion, I really enjoyed this film and how the characters changed over the
course of it. My favorite part of the film was after the African American
soldiers completed their first fight. I like how even after a lot of
casualties, the soldiers were still looking forward to fight again, and they
were even singing together and making music. They were all saying praises and
how they were doing everything through the strength of God. Even the men that
didn’t get along very well worked together in war; Like when Searles saved
Trip’s life.
•
B- What lesson—or lessons—do you see in this film that might still be useful
for us today?
I learned
quite a few lessons from this movie that can be useful for us today. One of
those lessons being to never judge a book by its cover. Obviously, that’s a
very cliché lesson, but it’s proven very well in this movie. In the beginning,
none of the whites had confidence in the African American regimen. But, in the
end, the African American soldiers proved themselves and everyone had respect
for them. Another lesson that I learned is that you should always wok together
when you’re all fighting for the same thing. It’s easy to not get along with
people that you’re fighting alongside with. But, if you work hard with them and
fight for the cause, then that proves genuine strength. This movie taught a lot
of lessons, and that’s just two of them. I really enjoyed this movie and all of
the things that I learned from it.
•
IV- BIBLIOGRAPHY
Glory.
Directed by Edward Zwick.
Columbia TriStar, 1989.
[When you’re finished
(which includes editing, revising, & proofreading), print this up and
staple it.]
