Protagonists and Point of View in Michael Shaara's The Killer Angels

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Protagonists and Point of View in Michael Shaara's The Killer Angels

Crack! A lone rifle fires off in the distance on a rainy July morning. A lone soldier in the Calvary fires the shot that starts the bloodiest battle that ever takes place on United States soil. Michael Shaara's book The Killer Angels (1974) takes place during the Battle of Gettysburg and focuses on the thoughts of the individual commanders who led the troops. This thrilling novel covers the four days of this famous battle that took place in July 1863. Through his writing, the author uses point of view to tell a story about what the commanders on both sides of the field were thinking throughout the famous conflict. In doing this, Shaara also makes it so that all the characters are the protagonists, the person who is trying to accomplish a goal, at some point of the novel.

One of the main characters in this book is General James Longstreet of the Confederate Army. Longstreet graduated from West Point in a period when the soldiers were taught to practice defensive warfare. He is also a stubborn man, which makes it hard to convince him to try any type of war other than a defensive one. Because of how he was taught, he thinks the invasion into Pennsylvania is a mistake and is continually trying to get Lee to go on the defensive during the battle. However, like a strong commander would do, he doesn't mention this to the soldiers under his command until the conflict is settled. He shows this part of himself by telling one of the men under his command that he has, "been arguing against any attack at all," but still tells the officer, "we have our orders [to attack]" (201). With these words, he sends the men into a battle that he feels will fail. The men...

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...he fighting begins, the regiment experiences several breaks in their line and eventually runs out of bullets. Chamberlain decides to try a bayonet charge in an attempt to hold the flank, and the regiment ends up capturing over five hundred men. Throughout this whole chapter the reader wants the Union line to hold against the attacking army and accomplish what they are asked to do.

In the novel, Michael Shaara uses the point of view to reveal the thoughts of several different characters on both sides of the conflict. He also uses the point of view to make all the characters who take part in this historic battle the protagonist at some point in the novel. In doing this the author reveals a truth about all humans being a protagonist at some point in their own everyday life.

Works Cited

Sharra, Michael. The Killer Angels. New York: Ballantine Books, 1990.

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