Paper Shaw
Essay by Maxi • March 20, 2012 • Essay • 574 Words (3 Pages) • 1,546 Views
Shaw had to make a lot of decisions when he was leading the black troops. For example, one of the choices he had was to either treat the blacks like they were worthless and less than human or he could treat them with respect and dignity. Shaw could've beaten them harshly and treated them terribly. But Shaw chose to treat them with respect and dignity. Since Shaw treated them well he wasn't as highly respected and thought of by the other whites but he didn't seem to care because he knew what he was doing was the right thing.
Another example of a decision Shaw had to make was when he was at the South Carolina town scene. He had to make the decision between having his troops burn the town down or not. Shaw thought burning the town down was wrong but the top officer didn't. The top officer said that either his troops burn down the town or he will lose his troops altogether and they will go under his rule. Even though Shaw felt that burning down the town was wrong he still ordered his troops to burn it down because he didn't want to give them up to someone that doesn't care for them and wont treat them right.
I believe that Shaw lived up to the ideals of the preamble. Shaw definitely tried to "form a more perfect union" by treating his people with respect and dignity. Shaw didn't have to treat them right. He didn't even have to agree to be their leader but he did anyway because he knew it was right and for the best. Shaw didn't seem concerned whether or not other whites thought what he was doing was right or wrong.
Another example of Shaw living up to the ideals of the preamble was that he tried to "secure the blessings of liberty". He did this by trying to find a way to get the blacks to fight in an actual battle. He had to do a lot of things to do this but eventually he fulfilled his goal. Shaw saw his chance when the main leader talked about the final mission on Ft. Wagner. The main leader agreed and that resulted in Shaw and his men having the opportunity to fight for their freedom and the generations after. The blacks were more respected because of their bravery and strength of heart. After this battle more African Americans were allowed to join the war and fight in battle.
My favorite part of the movie, "Glory" was when the blacks were walking toward the battle on Ft. Wagner. This was my favorite part because all the whites were standing around cheering them on and being there for them. Throughout the whole movie all the whites did was treat them like they were worthless and nothing, but when they saw that the blacks were brave enough to go into battle on Ft. Wagner, they showed them respect.
The blacks were finally getting treated better and that's what they deserved. The scene where they were walking down made the whole movie take on a whole new turn. I can just imagine how the blacks felt at that moment. This was something
...
...