Name: Tina Nguyen Due Date: November 12, 2012 Section: C / D / E / F
Memoir Historical Investigation for Good Brother, Bad Brother by James Giblin 1. Primary Source
The primary sources that I’m planning to use are photographs of John Wilkes Booth and his brother, Edwin Booth. I chose these photographs because it shows how innocent John Wilkes Booth looks in the picture, and Edwin Booth thinking about something important which is the stage. I chose these sources because the photographs show how the characters looked like if they still alive. Also, the photographs show different characters inside each brother. Edwin looked like he was pleasant actor. And, John looked more arrogant and portrayed as he had lots of confidence. 2. Secondary Source The secondary source that I’m planning to use is an article from an online database (Modern World History) to support my review of the book. The article would be something that is related to the topic of the book. I chose this article as my secondary source because the article describes the assassination of Abraham Lincoln with lots details that some information is not included in the book. This is an excerpt from the article on Modern World History online database. “Had his assassination plot gone according to plan, actor-turned-assassin John Wilkes Booth would have killed not only the president, Abraham Lincoln, but a future president as well, General Ulysses S. Grant. The Lincolns and Grants were supposed to go together to Washington's Ford's Theater on the night of April 14, 1865, to attend a performance of a mediocre comedy, Our American Cousin. However, Mrs. Grant had become annoyed with the now rather frequent hysterical outbursts of Mary Lincoln and had canceled. As a substitute, the daughter of Senator Ira Harris and her fiancé, Major Henry Rathbone, joined the presidential couple…While there he may well have shared the bar with another imbiber, John Wilkes Booth, who had been drinking steadily that day, having decided that evening he would assassinate Lincoln.” I was surprised that by how John Wilkes Booth was extremely intoxicated, and was able to murder the president with one shot. It showed how unwise was John to assassinate Abraham Lincoln, and deciding without thinking after some drinks at the bar. After reading this book, I realized that John Wilkes Booth wasn’t the same man as he was before. He got famous for being a murder of Abraham Lincoln instead of being legendary to theater art. 3. Review: The story is set in United States. It presents lives of two famous stage actors, and brothers. Meet Edwin Booth, the good brother, and John Wilkes Booth, the bad brother. On April 14, 1865, John committed a terrible crime that affected the United States of America. Edwin trying to clear his family’s name, but there was nothing to do since John made a terrible act. As in the American history, John would be remembered as the assassin of Abraham Lincoln.
Reason The story contains lots of rising actions that raise the level of action. It focuses mainly on the events that happened. The description of the actions pulls in like you were part of the story. The story is described well as it is detailed and vivid which it doesn’t bore the reader. Also, it tells in very interesting and heartbreaking way which it makes you feel like you were there.
Evidence from your book “This was the moment Booth had been waiting for. He opened the door to the box and, standing just a few feet from the president, drew the derringer from his pocket.” (121-122) “A meteor shower blazed across the sky above the Maryland farm where Edwin Booth was born on November 13, 1833. And when the baby emerged from the womb, his head was covered with a thin membrane known as a caul.” (7)
A Death at the Theater
Friday, 14th of April, 1865. Good Friday. The day that changed American history and me. I, John Wilkes Booth, became officially a fugitive assassin. On that day, Mr. Lincoln and his lovely wife were expected at the Ford’s Theater as well as the General and Mrs. Grant, who accompanying them. I heard several rumors that the party would occupy the state box. A plan emerged in my mind, a plan to assassinate the president, and the General Grant. They wanted to halt the spread of slavery and provide blacks American citizenship. That was an insane thought! The South didn’t support that idea and neither did I. And, this was the moment that I got nothing to lose, but to break my leg in that theater. In the Ford’s Theater, the presidential party took its place in the state box where on stage, Laura Keen played the role of Florence Trenchard. The actress glimpsed at the party was at the box, I overheard her improvising a line, “Anyone can notice that,” pointing toward the box. The audience followed her gesture, distinguishing the president, and burst into loud applause. While Lincoln and his wife enjoyed captivating and thrilling play, I regained my tanned horse from corroded stable behind Ford’s. I received news that General Grant didn’t appear, but it didn’t prevent me from ceasing the assassination plot. At around ten o’clock, I strolled into the magnificent theater lobby. A buff, towering doorman, James Buckingham, had his back to the entrance and one arm across to keep people out. I stretched out to clutch Buckingham’s hand, astonished and stunned doorman twisted around. I queried the doorman, “You’ll not want a ticket from me, will you, Buck?” “It’s pleasant to meet you again, Booth,” responded Buckingham surprisingly. “So, may I enter the theater?” I questioned politely the doorman.
“Yes, please come in,” reacted the doorman, “You know that you’re always welcomed here.” The doorman waved me into the theater. Easing into an undersized anteroom, I put a bolt through the door lock to ensure that nobody was entering the room. Slowly and carefully, I gazed through a peephole to the box. There was President Lincoln, with his wife sitting by his side, and Major Rathbone and Miss Harris on a comfortable sofa to one side, all of them paying a close attention to the stage. From the stage, I heard rowdy and pure rich voices of actors playing out their roles. One of the actors spoke clearly and wildly, “I am aware, Mr. Trenchard, you are not used to the manners of a decent society, and that, alone, will excuse the impertinence of which you have been guilty!” “Don’t know the manners of a polite society, eh?” responded the actor playing Mr. Trenchard. Standing closely to the president, this was my chance to fire. Gradually, I opened the door to the box. Just a few feet away from Mr. Lincoln, I grabbed a derringer from my pocket. A drop of sweat fell down on the derringer. Leisurely, the derringer was pointing towards the back of the president’s head. Holding wobbly the derringer, I pointed in different parts of his head. Hearing an actor bellowed, “Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal – you sockdologizing old man-trap!” The audience erupted with a disruptive, thunderous laughter. Then, I pulled the trigger. The president made no word as he rocked back and forth on his rocking chair. I dropped the derringer and sprinted toward the railing of the box. Mrs. Lincoln and Ms. Harris sat there frozen, as they intensely gazed at Ms. Harris’s dress and hands, drenched in Lincoln’s blood. Major Rathbone realized what had happened, he rose up from his seat and grabbed hold of me before I bounded down to the stage. He roared, “Hey you! I know you, you’re the famous actor. John something Booth, right?”
“Yes, but you will not stop me,” I replied as I proceeded to drag him across the floor. Eventually, I yanked free of the major’s grasp, pulling a knife from my pocket, and cutting Rathbone’s left arm. Before he could recover, I swung over the edge of the railing and leaped. Landing heavily on the left leg, a bone fractured just above the ankle. Most of the audience had no awareness of what was happening. Some thought that the gunshot was part of the play. Then, Major Rathbone yelled out, “Stop that bloody man!” I glanced up and noticed that Mrs. Lincoln started to sob hysterically. I tried ignoring her crying, and I raised myself up to my full stature on the beautifully decorated stage. Some of the spectators identified me. Waving the blood-spattered knife, I shouted out Latin words, “Sic semper tyrannis!” (“Thus always to tyrants!”). Some misunderstood what I speaking and heard, “The South is avenged!” Later, I limped off the stage, towards the back door. A conductor of the theater’s orchestra, accidently blocked my path. I uttered rowdily, “Let me pass! Let me pass!” Escaping the theater, I dragged my knife out, slashed at the man’s jacket. I kicked powerfully the back door until it swung open. Rapidly I mounted the horse that Edman Spangler was keeping for me in the alley. No more than five minutes had passed after I shot the president. And, it was confirmed that it was a murderous act of the play.
4. Works Cited Use Easybib to keep track of your sources. Giblin, James. Good Brother, Bad Brother: The Story of Edwin Booth and John Wilkes Booth. New York: Clarion, 2005. Print. Good Brother, Bad Brother: The Story of Edwin Booth and John Wilkes Booth. N.d. Photograph. CCBC Recommended Books. By University of Wisconsin-Madison. University of WisconsinMadison. Web. 12 Nov. 2012. <http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/books/detailBook.asp?idBooks=3265>. Sifakis, Carl. "Abraham Lincoln, Assassination of." Modern World History Online. Facts On File News Services, 2001. Web. 16 Oct. 2012. <http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp? ItemID=WE53&iPin=assass00209&SingleRecord=True>.