LONGSTREET (Chapter 5 of Part II)

LongstreetÂ’s discussion with Fremantle.

Longstreet has arrived at Gettysburg and is riding around the body-strewn battlefield north of town. He is muses on the inevitability of LeeÂ’s ordering an unsuccessful attack, his memories of his wife and dead son, and the lack of any response from God. When Fremantle rides up, Longstreet decides that he could use some cheering up and reigns his horse to wait for the Englishman to catch up.

Fremantle describes his excitement in watching the battle, despite his disappointment in the lack of cavalry charges, and goes on about how impressed he is that General Lee is a gentleman and not a stereotypical American savage. The two go on to discuss DarwinÂ’s theory of evolution, Christianity, JacksonÂ’s skill and eccentric nature, and the unjust accusations against GarnettÂ’s honor.

Longstreet then goes out on a limb by telling Fremantle that "Honor without intelligence...could lose the war." Longstreet goes on to defend his theories of defensive warfare but stops when he realizes that Fremantle is a gentleman and "would rather lose the war than his dignity."

STYLE

Simile:

"He passed a hospital wagon, saw...a pile of legs...It looked like masses of fat white spiders." (p.126)

Symbols:

"A band was playing something discordant, unrecognizable." (p.126)

"He smelled disaster like distant rain." (p.126)

Metaphor:

"Lee would attack in the morning...Fixed and unturnable, a runaway horse." (p.126)

"Longstreet...filed the matter forcefully in the dark cavern of his swelling brain and rode into camp." (p.135)

Allusion & SoldierÂ’s experiences & simile:

"It was LongstreetÂ’s curse to see the thing clearly. He was a brilliant man who was slow in speech and slow to move and silent-faced as stone. He had not the power to convince. He saw on the horse, turning his mind away, willing it away as a gun barrel swivels, and then he thought of his children, powerless to stop that vision. It blossomed: a black picture. She stood in the doorway: the boy is dead. She didnÂ’t even say his name. She didnÂ’t even cry." (p.127)

Oxymoron:

"He had not changed his clothes in some days and he looked delightfully disreputable." (p.128)

Irony:

"Fremantle gloomed. ‘Provided this war lasts long enough, which most people seem to think it won’t...but the war is ending, of course. I can feel that myself. That is the message I shall transmit to my people. No doubt of it.’ " (p.128)

Irony:

"Charles Darwin. Theory of Evolution...Theory that claims that men are descended from apes."

"Oh that. Oh yes. Well, IÂ’ve heard--distastefully--of that." (p.130)

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