Ethics assignment 8: Sources

Catton's piece sets up the telling of the day the people of Richmond learned of the 1865 fall of Petersburg by introducing the scene as "warm, with a mild breeze stirring the early blossoms". Such a description gives a feeling of serenity and calm, while the reader knows the sentiment is about to change. While desribing the interruption of church services to give the news of Petersburg's fall, the tone indeed changes to one of forlorn. Catton leaves the reader with the ominous realization, that "there could be nothing now but a restless, fruitless stirring-about in the face of approaching catastrophe."


Catton, Bruce.
Never Call Retreat
Doubleday and Co., Inc.
(1965): 444-445.