George+Enos


 * George Enos**


 * Quick Summary if** //The Great War: Walk In Hell//

//The Great War: Walk In Hell// is part of a series of novels by Harry Turtledove that explore the alternate history that might have risen had England and France sided with the Confederacy during the civil war (thus allowing the Confederates to win) instead of the Union. In //Walk In Hell//, it is now fairly early in the first World War, and the novel follows a wide cast of characters as they each go about their jobs and react to the war in some fashion.

While plot events are important, //Walk In Hell// focuses more on character interactions with other characters and their environment. For example, Canadian citizens attempt to subtly rebel against their new American sovereigns (the Union is fighting __against__ Canada, as well as the Confederate States of America (CSA), Mexico, and the European powers known in our universe as the allies), Negroes in the southern CSA revolt, and an officer who is in charge of the front in Utah and is called back because of an enemy infantry breakthrough on his watch tries his best to work his way back into the approval of his superiors. The great many characters allows the reader to follow communities and cultures all over the North American continent as they all fight through the first World War in their own way.

The novel begins with a Negro revolt in the southern CSA all while the USA is attempting to put down a Mormon revolt in Utah. This doesn't stop the two nations from continuing to go at each other, though, and they continue to throw everything they have at their opponent. Eventually, the US introduction of "barrels" (known in our universe as tanks) leads to the US gaining an upper hand as they begin pushing back Confederate forces. Washington D.C., which had been held by the Confederates since 1914, was now liable to be taken back by the US. Additionally, Theodore Roosevelt is re-elected president of the USA, while Woodrow Wilson remains president of the CSA.


 * George Enos as a Soldier**

Many novels, especially ones centered on war, feature and follow soldier(s) as they fight through the war for whatever side they're on. Nothing is too significant about the archetype, which often follows the following criteria:
 * 1) The soldier fights for some purpose
 * 2) He wields some sort of weapon
 * 3) He expresses opinions about the conflict in someway
 * 4) He adapts to fighting fairly quickly
 * 5) He answers to a superior

Soldiers who don't follow criteria 1 and/or 3 either go through some sort of development throughout the novel where they begin to care; otherwise, they most likely aren't the main character. In that case, they often die. (Though in many works, [|main characters are prone to death] as well).

However, Enos follows all of the criteria, and does so without coming across as ruthless, depressed, or in some way psychologically different. "He had joined the Navy then, partly in terms of revenge [for what the Confederates did to his fishing boat and its crew], partly to keep from being conscripted into the Army" so Enos's reasons for joining the war are not far-fetched at all, and in fact reflect just how human he is (Turtledove, 3). Revenge is something that many, if not all people wish for at some point in their lives (whether they're being petty or not is irrelevant) so it is an easy desire to sympathize with, especially when a character is justified in wanting revenge - which Enos is, as his crew and his possessions were assaulted by his enemies //before// they became //his// enemies. Desiring to avoid being conscripted is understandable as well, because as it soon became known in our universe, trench warfare is nightmarish. No sane man would wish to participate in it.

The criterion of wielding a weapon is easily met in a war novel such as //Walk In Hell//. Enos is stationed on a monitor named the //USS Punishment//, where he mans a machine gun on the deck.

The third criterion is met by nearly every character in the novel, as they all have their own opinions about the war, and the events occurring during it. Enos gets his opinion out early in the novel, claiming to one of the officers aboard the //Punishment// that “if I was one of those Negroes, sir, and I saw a chance to take a shot at a Confederate... I'd grab it in a second” (Turtledove, 4). This statement also serves to quickly characterize Enos as being firmly on the side of the Union; he has no interest in letting the “Rebs” (the Union's derogatory nickname for the Confederates) win the war.

Enos also adapts to fighting surprisingly quickly for someone who was only a civilian a few months previous. Part of this likely has to do with him riding aboard a river monitor so he doesn't have to face down his opponents, but one of the officers still remarks, “'You take care of the equipment,' as if surprised to discover that trait in someone so recently a civilian” (Turtledove, 102). The reason for Enos's efficiency is his experience on his fishing boat. Everything on the fishing boat had to be in working order, and though the Navy had much higher standards, Enos was still able to adapt as he was used to cleaning and maintaining equipment without having to be told. Throughout the novel it is also revealed that Enos learns the ins and outs of river warfare quickly – he has to, or else he would have been taken out early on. Only by a stroke of luck is he not hit and killed by a piece of shrapnel from a defeated enemy monitor (it kills his superior officer instead), and it isn't [|plot armor] that protected him. It was chance.

Finally, Enos also meets the fifth criterion as his superior officer is very visible throughout the segments of the novel that feature Enos (until he dies, that is). Enos even holds casual conversation with the officer, though he is smart enough to withhold certain comments that could be considered offensive. And when it comes time for battle Enos knows to fall in line, and follows the orders of his superiors quickly so as to prevent anyone from dying.

A similar character would be Matthias from the novel //Redwall// as neither Enos nor Matthias started out in their lives with a desire to fight. Both of them had war and battle thrust upon them, and they simply answered the call. The settings of the two characters are vastly different (alternative World War I where things look bleak for the Union versus anthropomorphic animals living in a medieval abbey who have to fight off an evil rat and his horde), but Enos and Matthias both still follow the criteria of the soldier archetype, demonstrating that the archetype presents itself through many different media.


 * How to Speak Like George Enos**

1. __Speak mostly in declarative sentences__ // Ex.: // “I'd say you're right.” - pg 167 Speaking in declarative sentences shows that Enos generally knows what he is talking about, and doesn't wonder much about the unknown, knowing that whatever he needs to know will eventually find its way to him.

2. __Wait until the end of the sentence to fully reveal your point.__ // Ex.: // “Reminds me of the kind of questions that ran me out of school and onto a fishing boat.” - pg 101 Enos, like many people, doesn't have all of his thoughts perfectly organized in his head before he speaks, and thus doesn't always put the point of his statement at the front of the sentence for easier comprehension. This particular quote also gives the reader a quick glimpse as to why Enos had been a fisherman, and perhaps why he doesn't ask so many questions now – he learned that the right questions were rarely answered.

3. __React calmy – a short exclamation is allowed, but follow it with a quip or a calm statement.__ // Ex.: // “Lord! If it's all the same to everybody else, I'd just as soon not run over one of those [mines].” - pg 168 Enos is a prevalently calm character, responding to several events with a certain level of surprise or anxiety (such as minesweeping, or encountering a Confederate monitor on the Mississippi river) but he rarely loses his cool.

4. __Use conversational language.__ // Ex.: // “Sounds bully, don't it?” - pg 102 This is but one of the ways in which Enos shows that he's simply an average man. Most people don't bother to be grammatically or syntactically correct while holding a conversation, and neither does Enos. The slang he uses also shows that he is certainly not a member of the higher-class, as if he was he would be using more proper language. Instead, he's from the working class, where language skills aren't as highly valued.

5. __Don't use many simple or compound sentences – use mostly complex sentences, with a couple clauses.__ // Ex.: // “I feel like Moses looking toward the Promised Land, knowing I'm never going to get there.” Enos's use of complex sentences helps to demonstrate his intelligence: he isn't so stupid as to repeatedly spout short, simple sentences, but he isn't so smart as to properly organize his thoughts and include two subjects // and // two predicates in the same sentence. Instead, he often includes one subject and two predicate clauses, foregoing the second mention of the subject.

6. __Joke around with equals; respect superiors but don't be stiff.__ // Ex. 1 (to crewmate): // “Now, Mr. Sugar, sir, what happens if I do worry about those things, or even about one of 'em?” - pg 102 // Ex. 2 (to superior officer): // “Sir, I put in a lot of years on a fishing trawler.” - pg 102 Enos is far from stiff; even when addressing superior officers, he's sometimes able to throw out a quick comment about the situation at hand, either generally or specifically. When he converses with his fellow crewmates, he becomes much more relaxed, and jokes around with them readily.

In short, Enos's speech patterns all generally convey a single point – that Enos is simply a calm, moderately laid-back, average man. When attempting to imitate Enos one should calm themselves and forget about trying to grasp the deeper details; they'll come to you on their own. And speak conversationally with a fair helping of slang – think it sounds too easy? Perhaps it is, but Enos isn't too different from real men, thus his speech isn't too different, as well.