Across Five Aprils

These first three chapters set up most of the novel’s major characters and themes. Chapter 1 introduces Jethro and his family and notes what defines each character: Jethro is young and naïve but also observant and eager to learn; Ellen and Matthew have been through hardships, but both are caring parents who are keenly aware of the country’s political situation; Tom and Eb are eager for a fight and ignorant of the horrors of war; Jenny is young but eager to be seen as an adult; Shad is a kindhearted mentor who wants to encourage Jethro’s growth; and John and Bill are very close, but there is a growing conflict between them because of the war. While the family manages to maintain peace at the dinner table, the introduction of Wilse Graham disrupts it.

For most of this section, the war is not yet entirely real either for the Creightons or the North itself. In the first two chapters, the war exists as a distant but inevitable threat hanging over the family’s peaceful home. Even in Chapter 3, after the war has begun, some Northerners treat the battles like entertaining spectacles; many assume the South will be easily defeated. By the end of this section, however, the seriousness of the war has begun to sink in. As the Union troops are defeated by the Confederates again and again, the North realizes that victory is not as much of a foregone conclusion as they thought. This collective epiphany is accompanied Bill’s abrupt departure, which is a devastating blow to the Creighton family.

A major theme throughout Across Five Aprils is The Personal Impact of War on the ordinary people who live through it. Here, Civil War is told not through the academic view of a history book but through the emotional lens of the Creightons. The rift between Bill and John, and Bill’s decision to fight for the South, is the first major loss the family suffers in the war though it will not be the last. Not only is Bill’s departure from the family an example of how the war affects the Creightons personally, but it also exemplifies The Division of Families and Communities in War.

Across Five Aprils is also a coming-of-age story centered around the Resilience and Growth of Jethro, who in the beginning is characterized as having an overly simplistic view of the world. He has adopted Tom and Eb’s perspective that “war meant loud brass music and shining horses ridden by men wearing uniforms finer than any suit in the stores at Newton” (15). The imagery is full of masculine glory and pageantry, and although Jethro knows that “some men were killed” (15) in wars, he passes over this fact dismissively because in his mind, the ones who will be killed are only “shadowy men from distant parts” (15). He can’t conceive of the possibility that it might be his own brothers who are killed. Throughout the rest of the novel, Jethro learns through painful experience that war affects everyone, including his own family.

In spite of his naivete, Jethro is also characterized as observant, sensitive to colors and emotions, and eager to learn and share his knowledge with others. He loves Shad because the two of them share the same passion for knowledge, and Shad takes an active role in encouraging Jethro’s intellectual growth. Shad’s influence is a major factor in how Jethro’s understanding of the world develops over time.

Another important plot element introduced in this section is the conflict between the Creightons and the Burdows, which establishes the theme of The Division of Families and Communities in War. Throughout the novel, the events on the Creighton farm act as a microcosm of what’s happening in the nation on a larger scale. Even before Mary’s death, the Burdows were treated as pariahs in the community because Travis Burdow’s grandfather was believed to be a thief, though it is unclear whether he actually was. Regardless, the Burdow children were mistreated by their peers from a young age, and the novel implies that this social exclusion is what led Travis Burdow to become addicted to alcohol. Mary’s death is the end result of a long chain of wrongs done in the past, just as the Civil War is the end result of America’s past sins escalating into an explosion of hatred and anger. However, just as Lincoln is reluctant to punish the South, Matthew Creighton prevents an angry mob from going after Travis Burdow. Jethro draws an explicit parallel between his father and Lincoln, finding them both frustrating despite his respect for them. He believes their reluctance is a result of some inner weakness, but later, he will come to realize that both situations—the Civil War and the feud with the Burdows—are more nuanced and morally complicated than he thought. This ties into another of the book’s major themes, The Moral Complexities of Humanity.

Bill is the first character in the story who complicates Jethro’s simplistic view of the war. When Bill expresses his doubts, Jethro asks him, “But the South started it, didn’t they, Bill?” (41) and Bill replies, “The South and the North and the East and the West—we all started it” (41). Bill, like Jethro, is an intelligent young man, but his thoughts lead him down a path that severs him from the rest of the family. Though he doesn’t believe either side is morally right, he decides his sympathies lie more with the South, which puts him at odds with everyone else—particularly John, the brother to whom he was closest. Bill is critical of slavery, but he sees the North’s real motivation as a move toward economic tyranny. His choice is painful for his family members because, while they agree with some aspects of his argument, they do not agree with his decision.

With Bill’s departure, Jethro faces his first personal loss in the war. Though Bill does not die, Jethro will never see him again, and Jethro must learn to cope with the sudden absence of his favorite brother, who had been a source of comfort and stability. When he begs Bill not to go, Bill replies, “There’s goin’ to be a lot of things in the years ahead that you’ll have to stand. There’ll be things that tear you apart, but you’ll have to stand ’em” (45). Bill’s words not only foreshadow the hardships to come, but also connect to the theme of Resilience and Growth. Jethro’s journey into adulthood means learning to endure loss, and Bill’s split from the family is the first truly personal loss he faces.