Robert E. Lee – Letter to his Family

"How his spirit would be grieved could he see the wreck of his mighty labors! I will not, however, permit myself to believe, until all ground of hope is gone, that the fruit of his noble deeds will be destroyed, and that his precious advice and virtuous example will so soon be forgotten by his countrymen. As far as I can judge by the papers, we are between a state of anarchy and civil war. May God avert both of these evils from us! I fear that mankind will not for years be sufficiently Christianized to bear the absence of restraint and force. I see that four states have declared themselves out of the Union; four more will apparently follow their example. Then, if the border states are brought into the gulf of revolution, one half of the country will be arrayed against the other. I must try and be patient and await the end, for I can do nothing to hasten or retard it" (Lee).

"A Union that can only be maintained by swords and bayonets, and in which strife and civil war are to take the place of brotherly love and kindness, has no charm for me. I shall mourn for my country and for the welfare and progress of mankind. If the Union is dissolved, and the government disrupted, I shall return to my native state and share the miseries of my people; and, save in defense, will draw my sword on none" (Lee).

Lee is writing to his son either during the Civil War and is talking of the Union and their upcoming victory, or so he hopes. Lee is telling his son of what is going on with him and in the first excerpt Lee tells his son that he enjoyed reading a book that his son had sent him and by using examples and instances in the novel, he is able to give me an insight and idea as to how he feels about specific occurrences that happened in the book and how he can relate them to his own life and what he is currently experiencing in the war. Which, although Lee is not giving a play by play on the events happening in the war, I am still getting an idea as to what is going on, as I should, and he tells the readers, and more specifically his son, about his feelings toward the North and South. That demonstrates realism I believe, as well as regionalism throughout this letter. Just because, Lee is trying to tell his son of what exactly he has going on with him where he is at, and possibly get his son to better understand how his old man is doing. That way his family, and more specifically his son feel more involved with the man of the house and how exactly the war is affecting not only Lee himself, but the others around him (Lee). That is just my opinion on it, however. Lee is using realism with a sub writing style of naturalism to tell his family of his difficult and interesting experiences.

Works Cited:

Lee, Robert E. "Letter to His Son." American Literature Textbook. Columbus: McGraw-Hill, 2009. 384-385. Print.