Robert E. Lee – "Letter to his Family"

Robert E. Lee was of large importance to the Civil War. Even prior to the Civil War, he was an important person in the United States army. Lee was an intelligent man who came from a prestigious family. Lee was heartbroken (Lee). He did not want the United States to become a country where force was necessary to uphold laws (Lee). Originally, President Lincoln requested that Lee be the general for the Union troops, but when Lee's home state of Virginia seceded, he decided that he could not fight against his home state (Lee). Lee decided to join the Confederates because he could not stand the thought of fighting those from Virginia, where his family was located (Lee). Lee quickly moved to the top of the ranks, and he became general of the Confederate army (Lee). Lee was triumphant in many battles, but eventually his losses began to outweigh his victories during the Civil War and he was forced to surrender to the North (Lee). The letters that Lee wrote to his family before the war have been discovered, and in a letter to his son, he tells him of the heartbreak that he was experiencing over the current state of the country (Lee).

"Letter to his Family" is Realistic because it discusses Lee's feelings on the current state of the country (Lee). This piece of literature is not Naturalistic because it does not evaluate or study humans (Lee). It is not Regionalistic, even though it discusses different regions of the United States, because it is not trying to promote a certain place over others (Lee). This reflects society during that specific period because while many people may have thought a war was inevitable, those people still did not want one (Lee). Many people were upset about the ongoing tension between the North and the South, and the last thing many of them wanted was a war. This work does not make any references to religion. It also does not touch on the subject of government much either, unless one considers the tension between the Confederates and the Union a reference to government (Lee). One of the things that Lee does mention about the government though, is how it would dissolve into nothing if a war broke out between the North and the South (Lee). Nature was not brought up often either, and the only human nature was about a piece of literature that Lee had read because his son had sent it to him (Lee). The American Dream is not really in this work, but Lee's American Dream could have been that the Union would not break up, which did not end up happening (Lee). There was no figurative language in Lee's letter to his son, and there was also nothing about a Hero (Lee). "Letter to his Family" was mostly a work based on Lee's feelings about the subject of the Union. He hoped that there would be no war, for he feared that this would cause the country to fall into a savage state where force was needed to uphold laws. Lee wished for no war, but sadly his wish did not come true (Lee). He was a very honorable man that wanted the best for his country and the people in it, rather than wanting the best for himself or for personal gain (Lee). Lee was an incredible general and man, who did his best to preserve the country.

Lee, Robert E. "Letter to His Family." American Literature. Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Douglas Fisher, Beverly A. Chin, and Jacqueline J. Royster. Columbus: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 2009. 382-85. Print.