Literary Analysis essay on "Confederates in the Attic" by Tony Horwitz

Introduction

Tony Horwitz's passion in the American Civil War made him embark on a study that took him more than a century. He was able to get information from which he wrote his book Confederates in the Attic. This work is based on facts rather than fiction, which is highly informative and has a nice record of events. He captured the disposition on the war including how it is taught and debated and the perception about the race. Tony Horwitz reveals some encounters in this book which include his first experience with the reenactors of the war, the aftermath of the killing of Michael Westerman and, his tour in the South and North of Carolina.

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Tony Horwitz recalls hearing the noise which came through the window from fighters outside his house. In his young childhood age, he remembered how he used most of his time in an old book about civil wars which had pictures that were intriguing to him. He was puzzled by engagement with men who made him wonder how the media could stand and record as if enjoying the scene of one people of the same country fighting each other and causing massive bloodshed. Horwitz clearly remembers different people and his talks with the fanatics of civil conflicts from various cadres of people.

According to Horwitz, a correlation between racism and the civil unrest that was taking place. Throughout his journey, he did not encounter any African-American being obsessed with the civil fight. Civil wars play a role in the violence related to racism in the current world as Horwitz provides in his account of events as he witnessed. He also displays how real the civil war is in the thoughts and changes the views of the Americans and the world in which they live.

The race is a memory that is related to the American Civil War according to Horwitz's reminiscence of Vicksburg and the South. He further elaborates the different perceptions of the civil war between the Blacks and the Whites of the South that created a significant rift. The Black Americans do not vividly apprehend the Confederacy. Horwitz's most discouraging issue is the rift between the blacks and the whites, which remained unresolved. He argues that each side holds on to what happened long ago.

Shockingly, in the middle of these differences, Horwitz reveals that among the youths both the blacks and the whites in the South the recollection of the civil war is significantly wearing down. This is a good thing since the burden of the war is progressively decreasing; therefore, eliminating one of what has been a major reason of the untold disintegration in the southern population. However, there is a negative side of this, which is threatening to forget the history among the youths, which renders them unequipped, and in a position where they might encounter hardships in handling their social life. The coming up of restaurants, malls, and residential development are symbolic as they depict the degree of forgetting what transpired as these developments are taking place in the war sites.

Horwitz wonders whether the Confederacy was up for any honor or whether perhaps it could give the southern population some beneficial past. Ulysses Grant got involved in this issue and tried to portray an introduction to Robert Lee's surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox. The people keep wondering if there is a contingency to sort heroic strife from a disgusting source. Most importantly, people can work over as they ponder on the battle flag of the Confederate.

War remembrance is important as Horwitz reveals since it preserves the history for the younger generations that will help learn how far the country has come. It also assists the youths to be able to cope with their everyday social activities. This is so by enabling them to learn how to live cohesively with the people who are different from them without discriminating them. The war memories always face many challenges including forgetting. Horwitz fears that the progressive rate of forgetting and fading of the memories the civil war creates in America among the youths of the south that might make them ignorant of the history, which is not good for them.

Physical war memorials at times get damaged especially by people as they intrude their location sites. Inappropriate use of war memorials may also contribute to their physical damage. These damages may emanate from the people littering them, sitting on them and other acts that may cause damage or other people may see this as disrespect. People should make efforts to balance between respectful engagements with them and other factors that do not cause negligence or failure to repair and maintain them as according to Horwitz they symbolize remarkable social events. Additionally, these memorials are targets of acts such as vandalism, graffiti, and theft.

The citizens of America and the government should actively take part in the protection of these memorial sites as they hold important historical information that needs to be taught to the new generations as Horwitz reveals. Raising awareness to all is the most crucial way of addressing the underlying challenge in the recollection of America's civil war. People need the knowledge to maintain and respect these historical sites. The government should work in conjunction with the people to increase vigilance in the memorial parks to avoid acts of theft and encroachment.

Bibliography

Daugbjerg, Mads. "Patchworking the past: materiality, touch and the assembling of 'experience'in American Civil War re-enactment." International Journal of Heritage Studies 20, no. 7-8 (2014): 724-741.

Hale, Grace Elizabeth. "We've Got to Get Out of This Place: Tony Horwitz Tours the Civil War South." Southern Cultures 5, no. 1 (1999): 54-66.

Horwitz, Tony. Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War. New York: Vintage, 1999. http://ebook.3m.com/library/BCPL-document_id-f7z89

Levin, Kevin. "Teaching Civil War History: From the Classroom to the Battlefield." Civil War History 62, no. 1 (2016): 76-79.