Read the excerpt from "Elegy for the Native Guards.”Inside we follow the ranger, hurried though we are to get to the beach. He tells of graves lost in the Gulf, the island split on half when Hurricane Camille hit, shows us casemates, cannons, the store that sells souvenirs, tokens of history long buried.The Daughters of the Confederacy has placed a plaque here, at the fort’s entrance— each Confederate soldier’s name raised hard in bronze; no names carved for the Native Guards— 2nd Regiment, Unio
Answer
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the individual’s search for home
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the experience of oppression
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the human capacity for violence
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the impact of the past on the present
Explanation
The plaque honors Confederate soldiers by displaying their names, while the Native Guards—Union soldiers—are left unnamed. This contrast shows how the history of the Native Guards’ exclusion and erasure remains visible in the present. The excerpt therefore emphasizes the impact of the past on the present.
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