Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrast

Bruce Catton

Summary / Question Answers              

Both Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee were men of integrity, determination, passion and great skill. Bruce Catton wrote about the two men in the essay, "Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts". Catton, a Pulitzer Prize winning author and Civil War Historian, provides a brief character analysis of both men in this essay. The beliefs that Grant embraced as a frontiersman was more admirable than those aristocratic beliefs of Lee, and more men and women of today should understand and follow Grant's principles.

Social inequality was one of the fundamental differences between the two men. Lee was an aristocrat who believed in traditional chivalry. He believed that this social class of privileged aristocrats is where leaders should be chosen. Catton, Lee firmly believed that social inequality has its own advantages and dividing the society into leisure class and common class is necessary.

Grant was a Westerner who supported modern ways of life, while Lee was a Virginia aristocrat who represented traditional American life. Catton points out many distinct contrasts between these two generals. For example, their backgrounds and personalities were complete opposites of each other. Despite their many differences, there were similarities between Grant and Lee. Catton makes it clear that both these men were strong and were highly supportive of their beliefs.

In short, General, Ulysses S. Grant, had aspirations for America that were the polar opposite of Lee's. General Grant was a man who came up the hard way in the rugged Western frontier. He was not born into privilege. He fought hard for the country's growth and expansion, and felt it was important to uphold a democratic society. Grant looked toward the future and paid no mind to the past.
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Question Answers of Grant and Lee: A study in Contrast

A. Comprehensive:

Q.1. What took place at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865? Why did the meeting at Appomattox signal the closing of "a great chapter in American life"?

ANSWER : General Grant and General Lee met to discuss the terms of the surrender of General Lee's army. It was a great chapter in American life because the civil war ended.

Q.2. How does Robert Lee represent aristocracy? How does Ulysses S. Grant represent Lee's opposite?

ANSWER : Lee was born into the Virginia aristocracy and was apart of society. Grant was born in the west so he had to work to survive.

Q.3. According to Catton, where is it that "the contrast between Grant and Lee becomes most striking" (10)?

ANSWER : Grant was the modern man emerging and Lee might have ridden down from the old age of chivalry.

Q.4. What similarities does Catton see between the two men?

ANSWER : Each man begins with the utter tenacity and fidelity and also both men were daring and resourcefulness

Q.5. Why, according to Catton, are "succeeding generations of Americans" indebt to Grant and Lee?

ANSWER : Because no part of either man's life became him more than the part he played in his brief meeting in the McLean house of Appomattox.

B. Purpose and Audience :

1. Catton's purpose in contrasting Grant and Lee is to make a statement about the differences between two currents in American history. Summarize these differences. Do you think the differences still exist today ?explain.

ANSWER : Lee was family oriented and Grant not. Lee was born in Virginia and Grant was born in the west. Lee was rich and Grant wasn't. I think that these two differences exists today because there are people that don't have to work to have a good life and others need to work to buy essential things.

Q.2. Is Catton's purpose in comparing Grant and Lee the same as his purpose in contrasting them? That is, do their similarities also make a statement about U.S. history? Explain.

ANSWER : Catton wanted to show how similar two generals that are enemies and how different they were. Their similarities made a statement in US history because those two generals fought for what they believe and they don't give up but the good general had to win the war.

Q.3. State the essay's thesis in your own words.

ANSWER : A great chapter in America came to an end and a new chapter started when Lee and Grant met at Appomattox so that Lee surrender to end the war.

C. Style and Structure :

Q.1. Does Catton use subject-by-subject or point comparison? Why do you think he chooses the strategy he does?

ANSWER : Catton uses point comparison and he chose this strategy to let us know how similar and how different they were. In the essay, topic sentences are extremely helpful to the reader.

Q.2. Explain the functions of the following sentences: "Grant... was everything Lee was not"; "so Grant and Lee were in complete contrast". "Yet it was not all contrast, after all"; and "Lastly, and perhaps greatest of all...".

ANSWER : The function of all this topic sentence is to inform the reader that the paragraph is going to be about comparing Lee and Grant.