Shades of Gray

Gray represents both the Confederacy and nuance in the novel, and the ability to see shades of gray is presented as a motif throughout the novel. Gray, as a color, is not presented in the novel as such, but as a concept, it is central in the title and the text of the book. When Will first comes to live with his aunt and uncle, his thinking is very black-and-white. In his mind, people and decisions are either good or bad, and he is unable and unwilling to acknowledge anything to the contrary. Because of this, he sees his uncle as a coward and a traitor and Yankee soldiers as evil. Throughout the novel, however, he meets people who help change his views. He sees his uncle’s integrity and courage firsthand. He meets the Yankee soldier, James, who shows him that Northerners can be kind and can act with integrity as well. He also meets a former Confederate soldier who purposefully destroyed Northern property, thus demonstrating that soldiers on both sides acted unjustly at times.

Gray was the color of the Confederate uniform, and while Will learns to dismantle his black-and-white thinking, he also begins to understand that Confederate soldiers were not as homogenous as he believed. He always believed that brave and good men fought for the Confederacy, with his father being one of these men. He learns, however, that not all Confederate soldiers were like his father. Some fought because they were forced out of hiding and into conscription. Others fought bravely but destroyed property in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. Some saw Yankee soldiers for the human beings they were and treated them with respect when battles were over. In this way, gray represents the Confederacy and the different people who made up its ranks, and the term “shades of gray” represents the different members of the Confederate military and the Confederate cause.