Still She Fights

Authors Note~ Soldier's Secret is a book about a women and her secret this piece
describes her story useing the writing technique Text Structure.

      I want to live! Imagine this being the only thought in your head. While running into lines of fire that’s all you really can think. Deborah Sampson could not think of anything else but these four words, while at war. This was her motivation. If all she wanted to do was live then why did she play dead? She was planning on being buried alive. She was afraid of her secret being exposed.  Soldier's Secret written by the author Sheila Solomon Klass is the story of Deborah Sampson's life and her peculiar secret. Deb as kept her secret from her fellow comrades for about a year and a half now. Yet all good secrets must be revealed. This secret was not one Deb was proud of but she couldn't turn back. As soon as she threw on those breeches she was no longer the same person. In fact she wasn't the same gender. A man was what she now was.
        
    Enrolled in the army she was ready for adventure. I wonder why she would want to even be dressed as a man in the first place. Didn't she understand that she would never be a heroine, though was her only dream. Why would she put herself in such grave danger? Deborah was not a brave girl but she shows bravery through her journey there is no way I could have been the only women in a tent full of men without tipping them of, making them suspicious, or fall in love. Romance was an issue for Deborah it’s the reason she was first discovered. Rodger a good friend was the first to realize she was a woman. He was really angry at Deb when he found out, but what was she going to do just tell him she was a girl and she wore breeches so that she could disguise herself as a man so she could fight for her country. Well she could of and she wanted to, but it really wasn't that easy. Women wearing britches back then was morally a sin. It dishonored women hood and was highly frowned apoun. She could have been hung for such a disguise. While the days got more brutal she understood the consciences, yet she didn't think they were all to fair due to the fact that her father’s cousin became a hero due to his womanly disguise. Also Paul Revere and John Handcock with their Indian disguises. Deborah had no doubt that she was going to get caught. She could just picture herself walking through town playing the whore's march, as she was hanged. Only to her surprise it did not happen that way at all. 
     
     After the doctor knew her secret he wrote a letter for her general, General Paterson.  Dr. Binney had only one request as she left his home. To personally hand this letter to the general. She did what she was told, but why? She knew how easy it could have been to tell the cab to go somewhere else but she went straight to West Point. Good thing she did because after the General read the letter and understood Deborah Sampson's story she was awarded with an honorable discharge from the war. Yet she wasn't to as happy as she would have been if she could have been honored as a women. Though she still hoped someday Deborah Sampson would be a heroine. In my eyes I see Deb as a heroine she a noble women and I respect her courage.

Secret Worth Keeping

 Authors Note~ This piece describes the point of view in the historical fiction book Soldier's Secret.

     Imagine men dying next to you. Laying there helpless, blood dripping down their face. Though your goal is to stay alive. While diesis spreading around like soft churned butter it is hard to be save out on the battle field.  Once I'll you must be sent to the infirmary, there you are surrounded by many other sick men. Laying on hay beds waiting for the nurses make their rounds, you worry.  Some may pretend to be dead like Robert Shurtliff, only then would he be put out of his misery,  the secret being reveled, his only fear.

     The fear of her fellow tent mates finding out she was Deborah Sampson. From her point of view we learn to understand the different ways to interrupt the Revolutionary War. She helps us understand they way women were treated in the 1700's. They were pretty much treated like cattle, they did everything for the mean cooked, cleaned, and all the errands. Yet they were never recognized, only their husbands. Deb wants that to change. She shows us the difficulty for a young women living in this time period. Since she was a give- away child she also under stood the rules of slavery. She was not allowed to be able to read, but she was able to learn her letters. Not being able to read that’s non-sense. She still did it anyways, also she taught her friend Jennie who was the slave of the house, how to read the Bible. This all goes to show women were not allowed to do anything.  Plus Deb saw everything from a different prospective. She didn’t want to be that little women standing over the oven all day and night. She wanted to be a hero. Tough this was highly frowned upon considering the fact she is female.

     All though this story is not written in the doctor’s point of view, what if it was? There would be no view of any battle scenes. We would be missing out on all the action and feeling behind Deborah's story. The doc knows everything about Deb. She wrote it all down for him; still we are yet to understand how she felt as a woman in her situation. The reason is because he is a male. As a male he will not understand the struggle of the women in which he is caring for.  As a man he will be able to understand why she thought it was so important to be in the war. Or why exactly she needed to go to the extreme of actually taking over a male figure. The doctor has a daughter or two. So he must find it unbelievable for any mother to allow her daughter to dress as a man and pursue such a dreadful deed in which a young woman shouldn't be allowed. He is a protective father he wants his daughters to know nothing about the soldier in their attic. So the doctor's story would have less meaning in regards to the message Deborah Sampson is trying to send.

     I am actually glad that this book is in the point of view of Deborah because it gives us a bit of an understanding of the women’s lives back in that time era. For any man to try to even come close to understanding is impossible. That’s why I enjoy what Deborah’s thoughts are. Also her adventure is magnificent it really grabs the reader. They want to know what happens to her next. They wonder if she will survive. As do I.