Second Book Review- My Name is America: The Journal of James Edmond Pease. - Kellie V.

Summary:

James Edmond Pease is a sixteen year old orphan during the American Civil War. He discovers that his Aunt and Uncle do not want to keep him and decides to lie and say he is eighteen so he can join the Union Army. He seems to have good luck while in battle and has good hand-writing so his commanding officer designates him as their scribe. His job is to write a description about each man in their party and write about any skirmish that they get in with the Confederate Army.

Theme:

For my two reviews, I chose two novels which both had male protagonists and were set up to be read like a journal.



Analysis:

Absence of Female Characters:

While reading this novel, I noticed that there was only a few female characters while there were countless male characters presented.

Normally, I would not agree that a book should have an absence of either gender; but, in this book, the omission of female characters presents a sense of camaraderie amongst the male soldiers. The main character begins by describing each of the men in their company in a very indifferent manner while towards the end of the story he feels protective of them and thinks of them as his brothers.

There are two females which really stood out while I was reading the book. The first is James' distant love interest named Sarah. She is actually one of the other soldier's sister who begins to write James after she hears about his close encounter with an enemy soldier. Throughout the novel, we never actually meet Sarah or read her letters, James simply states that he receives letters from her and then tells us what he writes back to her. I believe her absence from James is used to represent the possibility of what his life can be if he can only make it out of the war.

The other female character is a slave named Sally who nurses James back to health after a battle that left him very weak and unable to find food. While Sally is actually there taking care of James, she speaks French instead of English so James is unable to communicate properly with her. After he has regained his health, James' inability to make a connection with Sally allows him to leave her easily in order to find out what happened to his friends.

Discussions:

Historical Accuracy:

Since I want to be a History teacher, I think it would be interesting for my students to delve deeper into the text by researching what actually happened during this war and then trying to find any inaccuracies in this novel.

Journal Style of Writing:

I would like my students to discuss whether they enjoyed reading from a novel that is set up like a journal or whether they prefer books that are presented in the normal style. I would then have a discussion about whether they would like to write journals of their own.

Age:

I would use this text in 5^th or 6^th grade. That way the students probably already know something about the Civil War and we can use that background knowledge to expand upon what is already present in the text.

Citation.

Murphy, J. (1998). My Name is America: The Journal of James Edmond Pease, A Civil War Union Solder. New York: Scholastic Inc.