More Than Just Fighters

In the essay, "Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrast", by Bruce Catton the differences of the two men (Grant and Lee) went beyond more than just what they fought for. Although Catton describes these men along with their styles of reaching their goals he also portrays their ways of being from the beginning. This essay is very informative, but it accomplishes to describe and not in a dull manner. The essay begins with a brief introduction and soon switches off to describe each man individually. Catton begins in their line of duty and what they do and yet is still able to go as far back to take a glimpse at how these men were raised. The author writes in a way that the reader feels the emotion of the mens' beliefs and hardships.
The feeling of the reader is able to shift gradually but quickly from one emotion to a completely different one through Catton's gentle transitions. He wrote about Lee first and was able to shift from Lee to Grant so smoothly it was as if they were standing right in front of you and they are introducing themselves to you. The essay is personal. It is not just a general idea of the two men; you get two know the men as more than just fighters. Catton compares the men and then introduces them separately with enough detail to understand their ways of fighting which was stated in the first three paragraphs: he analyzed. Although Catton does analyze the way the two men differ it does not feel like there is a huge gap when transitioning from the personality of one men to the other. They way the descriptions are presented gradually transitions into describing the differences of another. The fact that Catton does not just list and analyzes is one way he keeps the readers attention, but he also separated the paragraphs enough to not scare the reader away. There are about two medium length paragraphs and the rest are pretty small. Although the other paragraphs are pretty short they keep the readers attention because there is small point being stated in one and it's breakdown of the point is spread amongst other following paragraphs.
Writing about historical figures in a captivating way can be difficult because there are so many facts. There is a solution to that and Catton was able to accomplish that. He filled the essay with many facts, but he also fit in the reasons. The facts are not just stated in a list; they are stated then followed by his descriptions: he analyzes. It gives the reader a captivated and secretly informs them about history in an entertaining way. Catton's writing is the opposite of that of a textbook. His essays are graciously informative and I actually learned something about these two men without being bored to sleep and ending up forgetting everything about the two once I put the essay away. It made me think about how I was raised and how some events and routines that have gone on in my life have effected the way I am as a person. It is almost as if this was a history lesson with a checklist about personality attached to it. At the end of the essay I saw these two men as more than just people who are remembered because of something big they did which was a result of their background as well as what they were fighting for.