The character Private Tripp in the movie Glory was a very important character in that he was sort of the focal point and he was the one that always seemed to cause the problems. This character had experienced a lot of physical and mental abuse of being a slave and was just mad at the world. The reason he had such a bad chip on his shoulder was that he had to deal with being black and a slave. These two characteristics back during the Civil War period did not go over well with society. If you were black and a slave then you were practically nothing in society, thus never being anything of importance. This concept played with Private Tripp's mine and eventually gave him determination to ante up and kick in at the end.
This whole idea of getting the short end of the stick so to speak affected Private Tripp tremendously psychologically.
Tripp Palin
Tripp Vinson
Tripp PalinIn return he acted out in hate by bulling the other black soldiers in his regiment. He was the one in the movie to start a rebellion among the soldiers when the Union cut their pay from fifteen dollars to teen dollars. He started going around and telling everybody to refuse the pay and to tear it up. He portrayed the character that nobody was going to get the best of him without a fight. This showed all the rest of the soldiers that they were good enough and deserved to be there to fight. Private Tripp also showed that the color of is skin affected him tremendously when him and Shaw were sitting down at the lake talking. Shaw told Tripp that he would be honored for him to carry the flag into battle the next day. Tripp refused and stated that he could not take the flag into battle because nobody was going to win the war. Tripp stated that the war was going to keep on going, and when if it did end that Shaw was just going to be able to go back to his fancy home in Boston. He continued to say that when the war ended, he had no where to go because he was always going to be black and that there was nothing ever going to change that. Another incident that intensified the character of Private Tripp was when he was being whipped for running off to find a pair of shoes. The whole time being whipped he steadily stood there and took the pain while looking straight at Shaw. Tripp's eyes began to feel with tears as all that pain and emptiness inside came from being mistreated for so long. Private Tripp was just a reprasenitive of the rest of the blacks fighting in the war. He was not afraid of the consequences, which were involved for committing such acts, which he thought was so right.
Although Private Tripp was consumed with hate and anger towards all, it was this that finally gave him the will and determination to ante up and kick in at the end. He finally realized that all the hate and anger was not going to get him anywhere. He in return realized that he should take all this hate and anger and use it to his advantage. Tripp took all this frustration and used it out on the battlefield, which resulted in him being the heart and soul of the 54th. At the end of the movie, some of the men that Tripp had bullied were the ones that covered his back on the battlefield. This showed Tripp that you don't have to be mad at the world and to shut everybody out. This showed Tripp that the 54th was really the only family he had. He wanted to ante up and kick in to protect his family.
In conclusion Private Tripp was an interesting character with many sides to him. He was filled with a lot of anger but deep down he had a heart of gold. Tripp was bred to stand up for what he believed and to never back down no matter what the consequences. This is what made Private Tripp such a great character and the focal point of the movie
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Map of the division of the states during the Civil...
Scars of a whipped slave (April 2, 1863, Baton Rou...