random item

Troperville

Tools

Find recent edits by troper:

back to: Main / TheGunsOfTheSouth

edit article | go to discussion page

25th Feb '13 10:22:40 PM Xtifr

Send Xtifr a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Changed line(s) 1,77 (click to see context) from:

''The Guns of the South'' is a ScienceFiction AlternateHistory novel by HarryTurtledove, set during the AmericanCivilWar.

January of 1864. The Army of Northern Virginia is in winter quarters at Orange Court House, trying to deal with its massive supply problems, when, one day, General Lee is approached by a strange man with a strange name, Andries Rhoodie. Rhoodie wishes to show the General a new breech-loading repeating rifle, with an unmatched rate of fire, which he claims to be able to deliver in almost endless quantities. He calls his weapon an AK-47...

Needless to say, the Confederacy wins the war pretty handily, and gains its independence. The book follows the war, and the aftermath, from the perspectives of General Lee and Nathaniel Caudell, a Nashville Schoolteacher and First Sergeant of the 47th North Carolina. Notably, it doesn't deal much with the war, but focuses on the aftermath. In fact, it's really a story of "What if the South won". The Kalashnikovs are just the explanation for how, and how Lee's attitudes come about are a result of the people who deliver them.

----
!!This book provides examples of :

* ActionGirl: Mollie Bean.
* AirportNovel: On a long train journey, Robert E. Lee decides to partake of the then-new phenomenon of a ''railroad'' novel, though he ends up not finishing his choice (''{{Ivanhoe}}'').
* AmericanCivilWar: Duh.
* AlienSpaceBats: TropeNamer was a direct reference to this. 
* TheApartheidEra. The AWB hope to prolong this by turning the CSA into a superpower so South Africa isn't alone in racism.
* BadassBookworm: Henry Pleasants. Two engineering degrees and a Lt.Col. commission [[spoiler: in both the Union and Confederate armies, by the end of the book]]
* BadassTeacher: Nate Caudell, though he would definitely not consider himself as such.
* BadFuture: The AWB claim to come from this.
* BigBulkyBomb: The Battle of the Crater [[spoiler: that, in this timeline, takes place in North Carolina]].
* CallARabbitASmeerp: The Confederates don't know the names for some of the future technology and come up with their own names. For example, they refer to a machine gun as an 'endless repeater' and a computer as a 'qwerty', after the letters on the keyboard. (Remember this is two years before typewriters were invented, so they wouldn't be familiar with qwerty keyboards).
* CampFollower: Mollie Bean is a prostitute ''as well as'' SweetPollyOliver.
* CharacterDevelopment: Nate Caudell's move towards accepting blacks as regular people comes gradually and over time; after teaching a black man basic math (with him showing great aptitude), he thinks about the fact that his illiterate, racist landlady could buy the man in a heartbeat and remarks to himself "Damned if there's any justice in that".
* CoversAlwaysLie: This happening to ''another'' author's book was actually the inspiration for this one--see below. 
* CulturalPosturing: Judah P. Benjamin's snarky comeback to an anti-semitic insult by Ben Butler.
* {{Dramatization}}: In Turtledove's authors notes, he reveals that he took names and occupations for the 47th North Carolina Infantry from real life service records, but made up their personalities based off of details (such as Billy Beddingfield being portrayed as a hot-headed JerkAss based on the real Beddingfield repeatedly gaining and losing non-commissioned rank).
* DealWithTheDevil: Lee ''knows'' that the Confederacy is making one with AWB when they accept Rhoodies' help, but the South is desperate.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: The book analyses the difference between conservative racism (people are racist because that's the way it's always been) and reactionary racism (people actively move against other races to prevent race-mixing). This is demonstrated in early chapters where one of Caudell's squadmates says that if he owned slaves, he'd want a Rivington man as an overseer, but quickly recants when he sees how harshly they treat blacks, remarking that their attitude would either cause a lot of runaways or an outright revolt.
** This is also the reason given for Gen. Forrest's HeelFaceTurn at the end of the book. He even says that if he'd known what the AWB were ''really'' planning, he'd have dropped out of the race and voted for Lee. 
* FatalFlaw: For the Rivington men, their fanaticism means they are completely inflexible, which is what starts driving Confederates away from them. Even the rank-and-file soldiers, who themselves have little use for blacks, get put off when they see how harshly the AWB treats slaves. When Rhoodie tries to horrify Lee by telling him that there are blacks in the British Parliament, Lee asks how they can be blamed if they were properly elected, which gets Rhoodie red in the face and halfway to starting a fight before Lee calms him down. Later on after receiving ''The Picture History of the Civil War'', Lee compares Rhoodie to John Brown, which [[BerserkButton REALLY sets him off]].
* GenreSavvy: As the novel progresses, Lee (Who is told at the beginning that Rhoodies and co. are time travelers, as well as some of the science behind it) starts figuring out how it works on his own. Nate, to a lesser degree. Considering these guys are from almost 150 years ago and from a more rural America, this is remarkable.
** Lee was a trained engineer (as he reminded Rhoodie near the beginning of the book, when Rhoodie was giving a very elementary explanation of the AK-47's firing mechanism). He had some basic principles and enough native intelligence to put things together given the time.
** This is part of a common theme in Turtledove's books of criticising time travel versions of ClarkesThirdLaw--in Turtledove's works, given time and the right opportunities people from the past will be able to match wits with those from later times rather than being overawed by them and their technology.
** Later in the novel when the Rivington men turn on the South, Lee reads dispatches from General Forrest and thinks the name "Henry Pleasants" sounds familiar; after confirming it with the ''Picture History'', he orders Forrest not to use Pleasants' name in any more communiques, thinking that the Rivington men might be tapping the telegraph lines and could likewise look Pleasants up and figure out [[BigBulkyBomb what he's up to]].
* GivingRadioToTheRomans: Actually the inspiration for the book as a whole; Turtledove mentions that fellow author TanithLee described the cover of her latest novel as being as incongruous as "Robert E. Lee with an Uzi", and decided to explain how such a thing could happen.
* GracefulLoser: After Lee wins the 1867 elections, Forrest goes to his house to personally concede -- a deliberate contrast to their first meeting, also at Lee's house, where their disagreement over slavery lead to Lee asking Forrest to leave. Forrest says that he still disagrees with Lee politically, but not personally and he wants to make sure that Lee understands this; Lee is more than happy in this regard, since he doesn't like the idea of personal enemies.
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: Nathan Bedford Forrest. In the first Act, Forrest doesn't appear but is frequently mentioned as an excellent general and boon to the South. In the second Act, Forrest becomes the primary antagonist, siding with AWB. [[spoiler:In the third Act, he recants his alliance with the AWB and personally leads the assault on Rivington.]]
* HoistByHisOwnPetard[=/=]KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:Andries Rhoodie is killed when one of his slaves stabs him in the throat with a broken bottle. The Confederates ignore the law and let him go, having learned how horribly Rhoodie (and indeed most of AWB) treated their slaves; one soldier even remarks "Reckon the son of a bitch had it coming."]]
* MataHari: Molly Bean, who is brought into the headquarters of the AWB and becomes a favored bedmate after the war. Ignorant and only recently taught to read, she nonetheless becomes a vital part of the attempts by the South to destroy them. While she is spying on them, she sends letters to Nate describing futuristic things like electricity and books that haven't yet published, causing him to figure out that they're from the future.
* MoreDakka: The very first scene of the book. And the cover. And, well, the whole premise....
* MyFriendsAndZoidberg: The Confederates repeatedly refer to the Federal commissioners as "Our honored guests, and Gen. Butler." They feel they are {{justified|Trope}} in doing so, given their reactions to some of Butler's actions during the war.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: The inauguration massacre not only fails to kill Lee, but hands him the trump card he needs to get the manumission bill passed, meaning this South will likely have better race relations than its real-world counterpart.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: The only times Nathaniel Caudell's full name is used is when he musters out of the army, and when he goes to vote. When in uniform, he's Sergeant Caudell, when teaching he's Mr. Caudell, and otherwise everyone calls him Nate.
* OurTimeTravelIsDifferent: The time machine used is a square platform, a few square meters in size, that travels forwards and backwards exactly 150 years. It dematerialises travellers in much the same way as the transporter in ''Franchise/StarTrek''.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: The Rivington men just have "evil racist scum" written all over them.
* PunchClockVillain: Benny Lang is racist like the rest of the Rivington men, but he treats his slaves decently enough, fought valiantly for the Confederacy, and treated Mollie nicely when he [[TheOldestProfession calls upon her services]]. At the end of the novel when Lee offers the captive Rivington men a form of amnesty in return for sharing their future knowledge, he asks Lang first for these reasons, thinking him the most likely to honestly consider the proposal and pass it along to his fellows.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Robert E. Lee gives a couple of these, once by ShamingTheMob (mentioned above) and once when he calls out Rhoodie after learning about AWB's deception and true intentions.
* RetiredBadass: When the Rivington men attack Lee's inauguration, several civilians pick up weapons dropped by slain bodyguards and shoot back. When Jefferson Davis calls for a guard for Lee, the narration remarks that it's probably the highest-ranking guard in history since several generals came in order to see one of their own take office.
* RidiculousExchangeRates: The Confederates are befuddled by the Rivington men selling their AK-47s for 50 Confederate dollars, given the currency's complete worthlessness.
* RockBeatsLaser: And strategically placed TNT can beat a whole passel of future weapons.
* SamusIsAGirl: [[spoiler:Melvin Bean is actually ''Mollie'' Bean.]]
* SanDimasTime: Justified. The time machine only works over a period of 150 years; AWB stole it in 2014, so they could only go back to 1864 and no earlier, meaning that events like Gettysburg still happened.
* SchizoTech: ''TheGunsOfTheSouth'' gets this on purpose.
* ShamingTheMob: One of Lee's most effective weapons against the Rivington men is [[TimeTravelTenseTrouble future historical documents]] that show how negatively the modern world views the South because of slavery, shattering the notion held by many slavery proponents that they would be VindicatedByHistory.
** Happens more literally in one scene where a mob, egged on by a Rivington man, attempts to lynch a free black blacksmith. Lee comes upon the incident and [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech gives the men holy hell]], defusing the situation, though the Rivington men later try to use ManipulativeEditing to make Lee look bad.
* ShownTheirWork: Very much so, as Turtledove is quite the expert on the AmericanCivilWar. An appendix describes the history of the real 47th North Carolina Infantry, and the contemporary characters are mostly drawn from real people.
** Not to mention the fact that he calculated out the election results in the United States of the novel (1864; just after losing the Second American Revolution), and that of the Confederacy in 1867. ''And'' explains how he calculated it, state-by-state.
* TheSquadette: Molly fought at ''Gettysburg'', y'all.
* SweetOnPollyOliver: Nate begins falling in love with Molly over the course of the novel, and she develops feelings for him because he treats her well. They split temporarily after the war, since Nate has a problem with her prostitution. They eventually reunite and marry.
* SweetPollyOliver: Mollie Bean.
* TechnologyMarchesOn: The AWB (who are from 2014-18, as the book progresses) have an Apple computer in their main headquarters. The Apple logo is explicitly stated to be multicolored. The real Apple company switched to a monochrome logo in 1998 (six years after ''TheGunsOfTheSouth'' was written). Although it ''is'' possible that the Rivington men prefer Mac OS 8.
* ThisIsMyBoomstick: Played straight, almost to the point of {{deconstruction}}.
* TimelineAlteringMacGuffin: ''The Picture History of the Civil War'', an ordinary (perhaps even elementary) history book, is what really causes Lee and the Confederates to turn away from the Rivington men.
* TimeTravel: Duh. Again.
* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: The Rivington Men are from 2014. Besides fitting the idea of a time machine that can only travel a neat 150 years, Turtledove probably chose this date because it was just enough years ahead for a time machine not to be totally absurd, but still close enough for the Rivington Men's weapons and technology to basically be equivalent to the 'present day'.
* WorthyOpponent: AbrahamLincoln to General Lee. Later Nathan Forrest assumes that role.

It [[AvertedTrope averts]]:
* BottomlessMagazines: The soldiers are carefully instructed that full-auto is actually mostly useless except in ''extreme'' circumstances -- it's the ability to fire single shots without stopping to reload that is their primary advantage.
* ChristianityIsCatholic: Caudell is a Baptist, and the two ministers shown are Baptist and Episcopalian.
* EasyLogistics: The difficulties of supplying an army in the field come up a number of times, though the AWB are tripped up by this a little - they have a huge stock of AK-47s and ammunition ready to supply to the Confederacy, but weren't expecting them to be interested in their field rations.
** This is also a reason for concern in the end of the novel. Even with the new technological boon the CSA has gained, the fact that the North has used its massive industry to start mass producing functional copies of the AK has the characters fear that said advantage might not be enough.
* MagicFromTechnology: The AK-47s are never treated as magic, simply as weapons of amazing quality whose appearance makes no sense. Neither are [=MREs=] and instant coffee. The Confederates are well acquainted with the desiccated vegetables the Federals have, they just didn't know anyone was preparing whole meals or coffee that way. Even given a bit of a [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]], when Lee comments on the "desiccated stew" he is offered, and notes that Rhoodie seems disappointed that he isn't more surprised. 
** The Confederates become accustomed so quickly to their marvelous new rifles, indeed, that Mollie Bean is soon as readily cussing out a refractory AK-47 that she's trying to disassemble as she might curse a Springfield that she was having difficulty cleaning. Nate Caudell himself is actually a good deal more astonished by Bennie Lang's body armor, as he is well aware that any iron plate strong enough to stop a rifle bullet would be far too heavy for a man to wear.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** Along with being the premise of the novel itself, it is actually '''meta'''-[[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in the first chapter by the characters themselves:
---> "Pity they couldn't have come a year ago," Walter Taylor said. "Think what we might have done with those rifles at Chancellorsville, or up in Pennsylvania."
---> "I have had that thought myself a fair number of times the last few days, Major," Lee said. "What's past is past, though, and cannot be changed." 
** This is something of a RunningGag with Turtledove; when Lee and Lincoln run into each other in 1865, Lincoln says he might write a book about how things would have been better if Lee and the South hadn't won.

to:

22nd Feb '13 5:18:42 AM Thande

Send Thande a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Added line(s) 10 (click to see context) :

15th Feb '13 7:54:39 AM SeptimusHeap

Send SeptimusHeap a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Funny Money is now Ridiculous Exchange Rates

Deleted line(s) 28 (click to see context) :

Added line(s) 46 (click to see context) :

21st Dec '12 10:01:53 PM TheGDude

Send TheGDude a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Added line(s) 27 (click to see context) :