"Letter to his Family"

Robert E. Lee, being quite the prominent figure in the history of the United States, used his stature as the basis for this particular piece. Lee was a significant structure for the Confederate Army. Prior to the war, he suffered much sorrow, but putting this aside, Lee was well educated in his position. Being logical in militant actions, Lee used his knowledge to try and obtain success in the Civil War. His strong abilities in relation to military actions allowed for quick promotion and success. After much time though, Lee faced defeat as a common occurrence in the war. Although the South eventually suffered defeat, Lee tried to remain positive in his cause. "Letter to his Family" refers to the discovered letters addressed to Lee's family (Lee). Lee spoke about the situation the United States was subjected to. Lee did not agree with the condition in which the United States was currently in.

Realism is also highly retained in this literary piece. He uses strong emotion to convey his point about the United States and its condition during the date the piece was written. Because of this strong emotion, Realism is highly defined in this piece. Lee establishes a strong personality throughout the entire piece. The piece does not reflect any other subcategory of Realism. It does not retain characteristics of Naturalism because it does not speak about scientific theorizing or information based upon scientific content. The piece also does not relate to Regionalism because it does not speak about a particular region. Lee speaks about the United States as a whole, but does not have the correlating usage or content to relate to Regionalism. Unlike other authors who use Regionalism, Lee's piece is not of a particular novel, story, etc. The piece uses more factual knowledge, disregarding a specified amount of dialect or regional themes. Lee commonly spoke about the condition of the United States and the political aspects of the nation. Lee speaks about the dilapidation of the government in the nation if the North and South were to begin a catastrophic war. Because of this, evidence based upon Lee's belief and neutrality is revealed. Although Lee was not neutral by any means, he disagreed with the common belief of war or division in the United States. This correlates with Abraham Lincoln's belief that we shall refer back to our original state; an original state that was placed together by the Founding Fathers (Lincoln). Although these two men spoke and supported different causes, they used their initial respect toward the establishment of the nation to find middle ground. Their pieces occur in different periods of time, but they both retain prominence when contrasting the dispute between the North and the South. Because of this, readers may have a definitive perception of the United States. When a reader observes Lee's excerpt, they may see his belief that the United States was in a crumbling situation. Lincoln's speech may be retained in a similar way, besides his ability to pay much respect to the Founding Fathers and the one's who sacrificed themselves for freedom (Lincoln).

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.

Lincoln, Abraham. from "Second Inaugural Address." Glencoe American Literature. comp. Wilhelm, Jeffery. McGraw Hill. Columbus, OH. 2009. pg 339.