Book Review Gates of the Alamo

The Gates of the Alamo

The Gates of the Alamo by Stephen Harrigan is a historical novel that is based on a battle in the Mexican attackers perspective and the American defenders. The work of Harrigan is a historical fiction. Primarily, Harrigan tells a story by using various characters in order to convey his message. Moreover, he has appropriately how these fictional characters came to life. The novel’s main character is Edmund McGowan, who is a naturalist aged 44. In the Novel, McGowan is seen driving to Mexico in order to renew his government commission so as to create a botanical survey of Texas’ sub-province. He is always dedicated to his work. Moreover, McGowan tends to act right despite the political challenges in Texas. Therefore, he leads a life of solitary concerning the knowledge trail.

Main Characters

Mary Mott is portrayed as a recent widower who is struggling to raise her teenage son known as Terrell. She tries to bring him up despite the Karankawa dangers existence. Travis is portrayed as a fornicator since he is fond of girls of Texana. He is a loving father, and he is always concerned about making his marriage end properly. Bowie is depicted to be a boisterous, loud, bully and braggart man. Despite, Harrigan presents him as a person who cares a lot about his family and loves his Bexarena wife. Jim Bowie also presents himself as a schemer who always searches for a quick fortune. He is seen to fight with the alligators and finally becomes too in with typhoid thus loses consciousness. David Crockett, who is a former congressmen, is presented to be fond of politicking. Sam Houston is depicted as a devious man who has a questionable fortitude. Therefore, he uses his fictional characters together with a historical context to create a seamless beauty work (Stephen 4).

Historical Value

The novel is regarded historical thus it has a historical value. The historical value of the book is that it presents the revelations about the past within a story’s context. The plot of Harrigan’s story follows what we  know. The course of actions and the real actions of Texas and Mexico concerning the experience are reflected in the plot of Harrigan’s novel. Although, he used fiction, he addresses significant matters that we are quite aware. Moreover, he uses some license in writing a book since he creates a fictional story from theory. In addition, he uses fictional characters to build up the plot thus conveying the intended message. The book is Harrigan’s individual copyright. The author, Stephen Harrigan effectively exploited and presented a theory explaining what occurred during the final battle during past times. Thus, this can be likened to what we see in a Discovery Channel presentation concerning a battle. Harrigan’s thoughts are chronologically arranged throughout the story, and he employs creativity features such as fiction and other stylistic features ( Stephen & Guidall 6-8).

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Works Cited

Harrigan, Stephen. The Gates of the Alamo: A Novel. New York: A.A. Knopf, 2000. Internet resource.

Harrigan, Stephen, and George Guidall. The Gates of the Alamo. Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, 2001. Musical score.