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Definitely one of the most powerful points in the novel follows.... How does one judge a race???? For me it is simply not logical. If we (and by that I mean humanity) are going to survive on this planet we had better somehow see bad apples as bad apples. Killrain speaks an unpopular truth, however the truth.The fact that he is an Irish immigrant fighting in The Civil War only adds to the power of his truth. Historically, the Irish in America were considered worse than the dirt on the bottom of ones' shoe. Businesses in the north frequently displayed 'no Irish need apply' signs in their windows, which led to the disillusion and disenfranchised emotions of most Irish immigrants.Although the novel is set during The Civil War, there is no mistaking the truth as witnessed by Killrain's eyes.He sees what others are blind to, hatred born of ignorance. He is able to see this because he has lived it. We have got to learn to take people one at a time.

This is true for all groups of people.  I am a white woman who spent a year teaching English in South Korea, and I can't tell you how many times I was victim of spitting or some other assault simply because I was white and/or American.  I have friends from all walks of life--colors, creeds, religion--yet, I have been judged by black people to be racist just by means of my skin color alone.  Once they got to know me personally, they admitted they were wrong.

We are all guilty of holding on to grudges that don't belong to us--they belong to the past.  The world owes none of us anything.  It was here long before we were.  We are all responsible for our own actions.  We are all brothers and sisters on this earth.  I see no reason why we can't "take people one at a time" and get along regardless of our differences.