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Glory By Edward Zwick Character Analysis

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Beginning with the Battle of Antietam, Glory develops the perspective of the Civil War, savage confederates, and the heroic union. Captain Robert Shaw returns home on medical leave following his injury in the Battle of Antietam and is promptly offered a promotion to Colonel in command of the first all-black regiment, the 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Shaw accepts and gathers recruits, who are soon informed that all black soldiers will be returned to slavery, or if found serving the union army would be executed in response to Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. Expecting many of his soldiers to desert, Shaw is surprised to find his regiment as it was before, ready to serve their nation. The black soldiers endure months of …show more content…

Edward Zwick portrays the 54th regiment as “regionally and socially diverse,” by incorporating “one Southern rebel and one Northern intellectual, one naïve field hand, and one wise old head.” (Denault, Whose Past is it Anyway?). Glory displays the regiment as being made up of runaway slaves, however, the regiment was composed of “ politically aware, educated, free, Northern African-Americans whose experience in the regiment allowed them to become leaders in the black community after the Civil War” (Danult, Whose Past is it Anyway?). Edward Zwick uses the stereotype of run-away slaves to develop the image of a diverse regiment that came together to fight a common evil, the Confederates. By doing this, Zwick expands the nationalism the run-away slaves felt by fighting for their freedom and the Union, making it understandable to a contemporary audience. By providing diversity in the fictional characters, Zwick strives to display the overlaying theme of racism that all African-Americans experienced, whether they were slaves or intellectuals. Regardless, Edward Zwick blissfully exempts recognition of crucial African-Americans from the 54th regiment, such as Frederick Douglas’s two sons (Davis, 320) and William Carney—the African-American man that did not allow for the American flag to fall to the ground (Civil War: the 54th Massachusetts Regiment). Zwick replaced these important figures with fictional characters that contribute towards the contemporary interpretation of prejudice and run-away

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Its countless moving and unforgettable scenes that capture the Civil war spirt makes Glory one of the most loved war movies. Glory tells the story of the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment in the Civil War. This was the first military unit made up of black troops organized in the North by the Union government (“54th Regiment”). Commanded by Colonel Shaw, they led the assault against Fort Wagner on Morris Island (“The 54th”). They suffered heavy losses; almost half of their members were killed, wounded, or captured (“The 54th”).

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