A Fight for Glory

Glory is a film based on real history. In American Civil War, a group of black people were united under Robert Shaw’s leadership to fight with the South. They suffered from prejudice held by white Union officers and soldiers. However, they never gave up. The Massachusetts 54th Regiment kept fighting bravely for their glory, proving their abilities. Although there were disagreement and argument, Shaw and his men formed close and solid friendship during daily training. In the end, 54th regiment, charged as the dare-to-die corps for an attack on a fort. They sacrificed almost half of their men. Their legend encouraged millions of black people to fight for their freedom. It was a significant turning point of the Civil War.

This is a movie about self-esteem and glory. Both Shaw and every black man tried to find out self-value and to gain others’ respect as the utmost glory.

Shaw tried himself to be a brave and responsible officer. He not only fought with the enemies but also himself. At the beginning of the movie, Shaw was a survivor of a bloody battle. He lay face down among dead comrades and avoided death. It was coward; however, few people knew about his narrow survive in this way. Returning home, he was treated like a hero, and that’s why the Governor wanted him to be the colonel. He joked bitterly with his friends that it was because all other qualified officers were all dead in battles that he was chosen as a replacement. I think, at the moment, Shaw made up his mind to make a real difference. He wanted to be quailed to be entitled as a Shaw, which was an esteemed local family. Robert was proud deep in his heart and wanted to glorify his family in his own way.

In his army, he saw the old man Rawlins, who knew that he escaped death by just lying in a pile of corpses. His friend, who was a junior officer, disliked his aloof behavior as an arrogant boss. Trip, who was a black solider, humiliated him at his back that he was nothing but a man who totally depended upon his father. Shaw was faced with great difficulties from his men. He tried hard to establish his authority, which was a serious issue in army. Thus he had to pretend that he was not familiar with Thomas, a black who was his decent friend since his childhood. He did it with great pain to let the whipping punishment take effect on Trip, who was running away. He argued with his junior officer not to interfere his management of the men. All these were for a better regiment. Although he had a tender heart by nature, for the glory, Shaw fought away the timidness and a fear of wars within him.

Shaw’s personality also gloried when he face the unjust senior officers, and fought for equal treatment for his black soldiers as the white ones. Shaw was righteous and neither humble nor pushy before a power. He did everything that he thought was right without former fear that he had when he fought in previous wars when he was still an anonymous soldier. He sacrificed a lot for racial justice in the army. He didn’t accept the unfair payment system along with the black soldiers. He went to the Logistics to get his men socks and uniforms. Decided to illustrate his black men’s fighting abilities, he talked to senior officers, trying to get onto real battle field instead of doing diggings in bushes.

In the end of the movie, Shaw died in a charge. Though dead, he inspired his men to go on and fight. Shaw got his glory. His glory is that he got full support from his black soldiers; his glory is that he faced death unflinchingly in the battle; his glory is that he contributed to his family with a fine performance as an officer; his glory is that he had grown into a real warrior for freedom and for all men of his country. Shaw was a hero with the fame following the merit! He proved himself in the fight; it’s a fight for glory.

The black soldiers’ fight for their freedom and equal right was moving, with Thomas, Rawlins, and Trip as the representatives.

Thomas gave his comfortable life up back at home and followed Shaw to a bitter frontline. He was laughed at as “a black prince” during the training, because his civil behavior. People, like Trip, thought he was too artificial and a white man’s dog. However, Thomas never gave up even when he was shot. He pleaded Shaw not to send him back. He stayed and fought, with all his energy. His glory is the spirit of sticking to his fight without retreating, despite all reproaches.

Rawlins was an elder black in the regiment. He calmed down quarrels between Trip and Thomas, fights between black and white soldiers. All in all, he was an efficient helper of Shaw. He dreamed of liberating his compatriots back in the South. He never thought his identity as a slave a shame but a source of his strength and energy. Rawlins gloried with his senses, a calm temper and his persistent call for equality for his compatriots as his final goal.

It’s obvious that Trip was a bitter-tongue guy in the regiment. He criticized a lot, about slavery and the Union army. He seemed causing troubles all the time. However troublesome he was, Trip took the banner after Rawlins fell down in their final battle. There is no way to deny Trip’s glory. He jointed the fight for glory after all. He over came his worries that after the war he might fall into a life without any guarantee. He, in the end, faced his future eye-to-eye. He feared no more. He gained his glory as a brave soldier who threw all himself to an enterprise aiming at free all people, and the entire South. Trip went beyond individual! 

The movie is all about a fight for glory. Characters had their glory respectively. The 54th Regiment contributed all their efforts to the liberation and unity of the country. They, as a whole, gained respect and honor from all temporary Americans and generations from then on. They shall be remembered as a glory regiment!

Bibliography

Adams, Virginia. On the Altar of Freedom: A Black Soldier's Civil War Letters From the Front. Massachusetts: University of Massachusetts Press.

Blatt, Martin. Hope & Glory: Essays on the Legacy of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment. Massachusetts: University of Massachusetts Press.

Dongshan. Glory. 2010. 27 Apr. 2011.〈http://baike.baidu.com/view/1828552.htm〉

                                                             -XISU-MWZ-