The Four Stages Of Social Drama During The Civil War
Looking back on major events of American history through the speculative lens of Victor Turner’s social drama concepts, one can see that U.S. history has been imbued with social dramas from the beginning. From the Mayflower to the Civil Rights Movement, there have been many monumental moments of change that has helped shape America into what it is today, and each of these moments in history are considered, and can be analyzed as social dramas. In this paper I am going to look at the Civil War as social drama, and will identify four major events during the war that signify the four major stages of a social drama.
A social drama consist of four stages called, the breach, crisis, redressive action, and the reintegration or recognition of schism …show more content…
“In an era of monarchies and autocracies, republican government of the people was an experiment doomed to failure if states could secede at will, argued Abraham Lincoln. (Dudley, 1995, p. 16).” Nonetheless, the eleven states that seceded argued that they were being lawful by enacting their rights as sovereign states as allowed by the constitution (Dudley, 1995). But Lincoln did not accept this as an option, and had sent northern militia to Fort Sumter, South Carolina, which will becomes the redressive …show more content…
Blood dripped from the ends of bayonets as black powder smoke darkened the air. Musket balls tore through flesh leaving soldiers to death or to cripple. Heaving masses of iron were shot from cannons to destroy forts, topple towns, and leave craters in enemy defenses. Father and son fought father and son, divided only by belief they fell next to one another as brothers of a great nation.
A Confederate plunges a blade into the gut of a Union-man, while a Union-man fires a small round ball of iron through the eye of a Confederate. Both can see that change is the imminent outcome. Action can cause tragedy. Action can cause change.
The Confederates suffered great loss in the final year of the war, one of those being the battle of Gettysburg. The morale of the confederates was lost. Some historians mark the end of the war when Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant on April 9, 1865. Lee wrote a letter to the President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, explaining that morale was down, and that at this point there was no chance of victory (Dudley, 1995). The surrendering of the South and the freeing of the slaves in all states marks the recognition of the
A social drama consist of four stages called, the breach, crisis, redressive action, and the reintegration or recognition of schism …show more content…
“In an era of monarchies and autocracies, republican government of the people was an experiment doomed to failure if states could secede at will, argued Abraham Lincoln. (Dudley, 1995, p. 16).” Nonetheless, the eleven states that seceded argued that they were being lawful by enacting their rights as sovereign states as allowed by the constitution (Dudley, 1995). But Lincoln did not accept this as an option, and had sent northern militia to Fort Sumter, South Carolina, which will becomes the redressive …show more content…
Blood dripped from the ends of bayonets as black powder smoke darkened the air. Musket balls tore through flesh leaving soldiers to death or to cripple. Heaving masses of iron were shot from cannons to destroy forts, topple towns, and leave craters in enemy defenses. Father and son fought father and son, divided only by belief they fell next to one another as brothers of a great nation.
A Confederate plunges a blade into the gut of a Union-man, while a Union-man fires a small round ball of iron through the eye of a Confederate. Both can see that change is the imminent outcome. Action can cause tragedy. Action can cause change.
The Confederates suffered great loss in the final year of the war, one of those being the battle of Gettysburg. The morale of the confederates was lost. Some historians mark the end of the war when Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant on April 9, 1865. Lee wrote a letter to the President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, explaining that morale was down, and that at this point there was no chance of victory (Dudley, 1995). The surrendering of the South and the freeing of the slaves in all states marks the recognition of the