Realism in "Letter to His Son"

In Robert E. Lee's "Letter to His Son" he discusses the way that he knows the country is heading in the midst of the fighting that is going on between the North and the South (Lee). He knows that the Civil War will soon be approaching his son, and he shares his ideas about that with him. It is a very informative letter, detailing exactly what Lee feels about the fighting and whether or not the idea of secession from the nation would have been allowed by the forefathers of our country. For the record, he thinks it would not have been and ways to prohibit it were specifically written in the laws of our nations (Lee).

Through his discussion of the imminent problems for our nation, Lee displays strong Realism qualities. Realism is all about writing about the current news and what is happening in the world around the writer (Werlock). In this way the author can appeal to the people and show his opinion on what should happen. Although this letter was not addressed to the general public to be shared with them, it was addressed to his son whom he loved and wanted to share his innermost feelings and opinions about the situation with (Lee).

Lee's prediction of the upcoming state of our nation also ends up displaying Realism qualities. It does this because Lee uses facts to make an educated guess about what will happen rather than just taking a shot in the dark and saying that he thinks it is going to happen (Lee). Lee was obviously a famous commander and general in many wars and therefore he had a lot of experience with wars and battle. Because of this experience, he was able to accurately predict the upcoming turmoil. Still, it was not a guess dependent on simple guesswork, it was one dependent upon his personal experience and most likely his communication with other people who were in the know and could give him valuable information about the state of the nation.

Just the fact that Lee's letter was written to his son also displays characteristics of Realism, although these characteristics were obviously unintentional because the letter was never intended to evoke an emotional response from others. Still, it does evoke an emotional response because when it is read by an outside viewer it is touching to see the correspondence from a loving father trying to impart some knowledge and forewarning to his son.

One thing that I have to say it does not reflect about Realism though is the general status of the hero in the story. Although it is a letter and does not technically therefore have a hero, for all intents and purposes I believe the hero of this story to be Robert E. Lee (Lee). And in that case, the hero of the story is not exactly a common, everyday guy, which is supposed to be the characterization of the hero of a Realist literary work (Werlock). He is, in fact, a very prestigious military commander. However, that is the only thing I can think of that goes against the ideas of Realism in this work.

Lee, Robert E. "Letter to His Son." Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffrey Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus; McGraw-Hill, 2010. 385. Print.

Werlock, Abby H. P. "realism." The Facts On File Companion to the American Short Story, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Feb 13, 2011.