Realism in Lee's "Letter to His Son"

Robert E. Lee displays many characteristics of Realism in his thoughts of the then upcoming Civil War to his son in his "A Letter to His Son." Mainly, he addresses the current state of the country the Civil War he fears will happen. Lee keeps his thoughts simple yet informative in this letter in which he tells all his thoughts to his son rather than watering them down. This along with his heavily government based commentary, religion, and historical information regarding the writing and affecting the writing classifies this work as Realism (Werlock).

Lee is truly seeing the future when he predicts the Civil War will soon come to his son especially when he says, "A Union that can only be maintained with swords and bayonets, and in which strife and civil war are to take the place of brotherly love and kindness, has no charm for me" (Lee 385). This discussion of the government during this time period reveals a lot about the psychology, or mental state, of the country's people. Everybody knew what was going to happen but realized that the government could not or would not do anything to avoid this Civil War. This is truly a Realism based thought process. It is saying what is really going to happen in the country and not just what people will hope happen (Werlock). Lee does this well even with his own son. He does not seem to hold back any information or opinions of his, for instance, when he says, "Secession is nothing but revolution. The Framers of our Constitution never exhausted so much labor, wisdom, and forbearance in its information, and surrounded it with so many guards and securities, if it was intended to be broken by every member of the Confederacy at will" (Lee 385). Here, he speaks his opinion about how horrible he believes secession is even though he later joins the Confederacy. Although confusing, this government opinion is characteristic of Realism. Lee states his opinion in a simple and well spoken way.

This brings up another obvious Realism trait observed in this work of historical references and context leading to the writing by the author. Of course, Lee writes this letter mainly because of the seemingly upcoming Civil War because that is essentially all he talks about. Werlock describes Realism as a whole as, "the attempt to depict life as it actually exists, not how the author wants it to in the present or the future, or imagines it in the past." The events in history of course affect life as it actually exists because it is life as it actually exists. Without the problems with the government in which Lee was observing and in turn, no Civil War, there would be no "Letter to His Son." The Civil War is actually what many realism writers base their literature off of mainly because the war began a few years after the writing period began.

Finally, there is a glimmer of religious reference in Lee's work when he says, "mankind will not be sufficiently Christianized to bear the absence of restraint and force" (Lee 385). He was really only stating that the people are ready for a war because they are not good enough Christians; another loaded statement in which he does not hold back from his son.

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 12, 2011.