The Long March by William Styron

Essay by Bob3College, UndergraduateA+, January 1996

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The novel The Long March by William Styron is a prime example of anti-war, anti-goverment, and anti-military writing. William Styron uses marine reserves, that are forced to make a 36 mile march that they are not prepared for, to show the brutality and hypocrisy in the leaders of this country. The reserves are people that have been out of the service for many years, but have just been called back into service. A terrible accident has just occured at the base they are stationed at. A mortar volley landed off the mark onto of a line of young soldiers waiting for food. Nothing even slows down on the base, except for the medics in units being sent to the accident site. The reserves are then marched back from training exercises and the whole way the characters fight against their own limits and the odds.

The novel is set at a marine base in the Carolinas.

The climate in the novel is fair and mild. The year is most likely in the 50's or 60's. The time is between large wars. World War II has ended a while back, and the Korean War is about to start. The reserves fought in World War II and one of the officers in command threatens to send a person to Korea. The time and setting lend to the plot and theme in the way that it shows that the march is taking place in America in the peace time. It advances the whole theme showing that the superiors of battalion aren't trying to get ready for war, just being cruel.

The author uses several styles, and an overall tone to make the novel more interesting, and to advance the theme and plot. The author uses a straightforward chronological order to introduce things as they...