From whatever perspective a person views it, the movie Glory remains an impeccable representation of the order of events during the formation of the 54th colored regiment to fight of the rights and freedoms of the black people in the United States' civil war. The student should consider the movie in the next semester. The movie begins with the wounding and hospitalization of Captain Robert Gould Shaw in Boston after leading the confrontation against the confederates in the battle of Antietam. After recovering from his injuries, the captain was promoted to a colonel and given the mandate to command and lead the 54th Massachusetts battalion of Volunteer Infantry. Thomas Searle, an old friend of Gould Shaw joined the infantry and offered to be the second in command after Gould Shaw. The entry of Thomas into the 54th prompted many more block Americans to volunteer into the battalion and among them was Private Trip.
In the movie, Private Trip happens to be my favorite character. Trip works as the true representation of the troubles and the struggles that black soldiers went only leaving the audience to imagine the much more that the slaves had to tolerate if only to see the morning son the following morning. To begin with, Private Trip was a slave before he volunteered to join the infantry. The fugitive did not trust Shaw and in him could be seen the hatred and the lack of trust even as he communicated to the fellow soldiers in the infantry. Trip resented the treatment that the black soldiers faced form the government of the United States with the explanation being that the government gave the black soldiers half the compensation that the white soldiers received. At some point, Trip was caught having gone to the street to look for shoes as his had worn out. It was at this point that Colonel Robert Gould Shaw realized the plight of the black soldiers in that they were not getting enough supplies from the government.
Through Trip, Robert Gould Shaw joined in the campaign for equality in the armed forces. Trip launched the protests in which the black soldiers refused to take the half compensation from the government in which Shaw joined. Through the whole year that the soldiers refused to receive the compensation from the government, Shaw was in support until the government gave heed to the cries of the soldiers and equalized the pay. Private Trip represents the irony in the war against slavery and slave trade where the soldiers were oppressed in their own battle. It was after the act given by the colonel that Trip began to trust him and stronger relations emerged. Throughout the movie, Trip indicated the need to have the members of infantry united with an instance where he uttered the words "ante up and kick in like men" discouraging the black soldiers from infighting and instead joining hands in fighting the enemy. He resented the calling of names amongst the soldiers and in the end, the battle that he represented morally and physically was won. He pushed the soldiers to fight not for what they felt inside but for the greater good of everyone in the United States.
Technically, the movie Glory served the best of interests of the citizens of the United States regardless of the race or skin color. In the end Trip is revealed making peace with the Shaw who saved his life. After Shaw's death, Trip did not want to lift the flag in honor of the fallen Shaw but in the end he did it representing not the glory of the black Americans in the battle but for the glory of all who had sacrificed their lives for the good of the nation. In conclusion, the fact that Trip died holding the flag high was not in vain because it led to the recruitment of black men into the infantry and the granting for more rights and privileges for the soldiers.
