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Abraham Munoz English 1B 11/07/2011 Dr. Morrill The Quagmire of Social Justice The cognitive capabilities of an individual to grasp mass violence and death, on a grand scale, can have an overwhelming effect on a person to the point of impersonalizing death. The American Civil War was one of the bloodiest wars that the United States had ever seen. The war brought an end to the countrys internal dispute about the constitutional point of view of slavery. However, the righteousness of securing social justice was marred by the hundreds of thousands of deaths that resulted from the war. Even though war was a necessary device that ultimately led to social justice, the perspectives of the American Civil War poets became skewed because of the massive violence that surrounded the war. The problems that violence and war caused was that violence helped lead the country to social justice, while sacrificing individual justice in order to obtain it. Through the poems, the effects of violence in the American Civil War can be seen to have impacted two sides: those felt by the individual and those felt by society. The massive amount of violence in the war catalyzed the effects to an individual. The hardships of individuals in the war and the effects of fighting for social justice, can be seen in Henry Longfellows poem, Killed at the Ford.

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Longfellow states how: [He] saw in a vision how far and fleet That fatal bullet went speeding forth, Till it reached a town in the distant North, Till it reached a house in a sunny street, Till it reached a heart that ceased to beat. (Longfellow, 29-33) Longfellow illustrates the price that is paid at an individual level as well as the repercussions that follow violence. When word had finally reached the mother of the young boy, devastation had pierced through the town and community. The simile used to describe the news of the young boys death, was presented as a fatal bullet that was aimed for the mother. This further illustrates how violence reached individuals and was ultimately felt on a personal level, much like how a gunshot would be felt on an individual level. Although the surrounding community felt the effect of the metaphorical bullet, it was ultimately felt at a personal level. Another poem that demonstrates individual suffering in the pursuit of social justice can be seen in Francis Ticknors poem Little Giffen. In context, social justice was still plagued by the individual cost and involved sacrifices that contradicted the idea of social justice. Furthermore, Ticknor described the [m]onths of torture(Ficknor, 15) were necessary for Little Giffen to recuperate from a battle wound, which left him looking like Lazarus, from head to toe(12). The morbid complexion of a

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newly resurrected person gives the idea of how much Little Giffen physically had to endure. Moreover, while Little Giffens neardeath experience accounts for a fraction of the injustice suffered during the war, his ultimate contribution to social justice led to his own death. The idea of social justice lost its honorable significance when a thirteen-year-old boy had been taken to war, wounded in war, and volunteered to continue in battle. The effect of violence to an individual escalates to an entire society just like a droplet of water propagates in a calm body of water. In Walt Whitmans poem, Beat! Beat! Drums! Whitman gives a metaphor of how war entered into society through an individual so easily. Whitman states how one would be able to hear Through the windows through doors[war] burst like a ruthless force (Whitman, 2). The entry of war into an individuals home and life ushered in this force that would sweep through the nation so readily. Another instance that society is seen to take the blunt force of war is when Whitman describes how the war swept with devastation within the community. This devastation enters [i]nto the solemn church, and scatter[s] the congregation (3) as well as infiltrates the school where the scholar [was] studying (4). Whereas the individual felt the personal infiltration of war, this quote reveals

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how society also came into contact with war at a more communal level. These are societys sanctuaries and there unexpected infiltration of the war demonstrates the extent that the war has managed to reach. Individuals in church and school collaborate to make-up society and comprise the foundations that form the backbone of nineteenth-century America. Further examples of non-exempt citizens that can be seen to feel effects of war are the peaceful farmer, to even the lawyers. These individuals are crucial to the infrastructure of society but even though they have a prominent voice in society, the war [m]ake[s] no parley(16). In essence, society became a carrier of social injustice, and spread into every crevice of society. To conclude, the use of violence was a necessary means for social justice to become available to all individuals. However, the effects of using violence did bring dilemmas into the situation, as the American Civil poets illustrated throughout their works. Even though modern society might only have snapshots of emotions and attitudes felt during the war from some poets, American society lost the significance of death in pursuit of a virtuous goal. Safeguarding and exercising inherited rights and freedoms that were obtained through sweat, blood and even death is the best

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manner to assure that similar events do not occur once again. Recalling how social justice affects the many different aspects of society can help to prevent future calamities. Society should not take for granted the sacrifices that were endured in order to obtain these inherited freedoms. Searching for middle ground to fight for noble causes without undermining the ideal of social justice is an ideal that should be the driving force in the fight of for social justice. Work Citied -Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. "790. Killed at the Ford." Bartleby. N.p., 2011. Web.15 Oct. 2011. <http://www.bartleby.com/42/790.html>. -Ticknor, Francis Orrery. "418. Little Giffen." Bartleby. N.p., 2011. Web. 15 Oct. 2011.<http://www.bartleby.com/248/418.html>. - Whitman, Walt. "12. Beat! Beat! Drums!" Bartleby. N.p., 2011. Web. 15 Oct. 2011.<http://www.bartleby.com/142/112.html>.

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