Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Across Five Aprils, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Coming of Age
The Realities of War
Self-Determination
Personal Conviction
Hardship, Suffering, and Beauty
Summary
Analysis
During the fall of 1863, the Army of the Tennessee, an important Union outfit under the direction of General William Tecumseh Sherman, seemingly disappears. Eventually, Northerners learn that they spent weeks storming through the demoralized South. They successfully captured Savannah, Georgia and then set their sights on North Carolina, the “nest where seches was hatched.” But rumors begin to circulate about their pillaging and destruction of civilian property. And while some Northerners, warm and safe on farms far from the front lines, feel that Southerners deserve this fate for beginning the war, others realize that a war that divides a nation against itself cannot end in glorious victory.
The opening shots of the Civil War were fired in South Carolina, making it the nest of secession even though the chain of events leading to the formation of the Confederacy stretched throughout the South over the period of many years. The previous chapter noted the way that public sentiment in the North became decidedly unsympathetic and unmerciful toward the South during the election—in direct contrast to the mercy that President Lincoln exemplified. The brutal actions of the Army of the Tennessee exemplifies the consequences of this unchecked anger, which Union soldiers take out on civilians. This both demonstrates how hatred dehumanizes people and further shows how war’s brutality spares no one.
Themes
Ed Turner’s youngest son, serving in the Army of the Tennessee, writes home about the Union soldiers’ mad looting and destruction. Ed worries that these hard acts might inure his son to violence and terror, depriving him of human decency just as he reaches adulthood. And despite these and other acts of terror, the South refuses to admit defeat, and they continue to inflict punishing loss of life on Union forces.
Ed Turner worries that his son, unlike Jethro, will follow bad examples into his manhood, learning to be cruel and vindictive rather than just and merciful, like Matt Creighton and Abraham Lincoln. And his worry suggests the ways in which such a brutal war in and of itself can be dehumanizing.
Themes
Jethro is now 13, and as he matures, he becomes quiet and reserved, like his brother Bill. He worries about the war, but he worries about peace, too, especially after Ross Milton points out how hard it will be for the country and its people to recover from the extreme hatred, thirst for revenge, and violence of the previous four years. While Jethro recognizes the truth in Milton’s predictions, he still resents the newspaperman for tearing up his fondly held fantasy of normalcy. He fervently hopes that President Lincoln, who just started his second term, can sweep away divisive hate and violence. After all, the 13th Amendment is well on its way toward abolishing slavery once and for all.
When he was a child, Jethro longed for a war he believed would be fast and glorious for his side. Now that he’s older and wiser, he has a more sophisticated, nuanced understanding of the way the world works. Early on, Bill told him that he didn’t think anyone could truly “win” a war, and Jethro now subscribes to that idea himself. And while he longs for the end to hostilities and the return of his brothers and Shad, he sees that the devastating effects of the war will continue to affect the country for years to come.
Themes
But as Milton points out, simply abolishing slavery doesn’t mean that society will welcome formerly enslaved people, no matter how fervently abolitionists have worked toward this end. Evidence abounds that these newly admitted citizens will face the long legacy of slavery for decades to come. This reminds Jethro of his cousin Wilse’s angry words to the same effect on the eve of the war.
Ross Milton’s words provide the book’s only reflection on the ways in which the Civil War fails to achieve its main objective—ensuring liberty for all. They suggest the short-sightedness of abolitionists who agitated for an end to slavery without truly being willing to accept formerly enslaved people into broader society. This recalls Bill’s concern that abolitionist sentiment covered other Northern rationales for the war. But it also reflects the reality of the time in which the book was published—at the height of the Civil Rights Era, which worked to make good on the often-failed promises of emancipation.
Themes
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Finally, in the second week of the fifth April of the war, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at the Appomattox Courthouse. By the time Jethro rides into town with Ed Turner, flags fly from every house. People dance in the streets and drink toasts to President Lincoln, General Grant, and others. Many cheer through tears because most families have lost loved ones; when Jethro watches the night’s celebratory fireworks display, he weeps, too.
The war itself may have been grueling and terrible, but the end is—for the North at least—as glorious as Jethro imagined. Still, sadness tinges the victory celebration, since everyone knows someone who died.
Themes
Back at the cabin the next day, Jethro tries to relay all the details of the celebration to Nancy and her little boys. They’re excited about the imminent return of a father they can barely remember. April of 1865 practically bursts with joyful colors, new growth, and hope—until it doesn’t. For years, Jethro will remember the moment when a white-faced Nancy delivers the news that shatters his long-lost sense serenity and happiness: President Lincoln has been assassinated.
With the Civil War officially over, Jethro regains some of his ability to see and be affected by the beauty in the world around him. But the sudden, unexpected trauma of President Lincoln’s assassination deals a terrible blow to his soul, seeming to drain the beauty from the world. The entire country has lost the president to whom they looked to unify the post-war country—and Jethro has lost an important personal hero.
Themes
Life on the farm goes on, much as it went on in the summer of 1852 when three of the Creighton children died, even as Jethro struggles to make sense of this unimaginable and unprecedented tragedy. He reads in the papers about the funeral train bringing Lincoln’s body back to Springfield and wishes he could go there, but Springfield is so far away. He’s lying on Walnut Hill, trying to make sense of the world on the last Sunday of April 1865, when someone places a hand on his shoulder and interrupts his tortured musings. After a moment the owner of the hand speaks—it’s Shad, back with Jenny from Washington. Jethro and Shad are both amazed at the changes time and the war have wrought in the other.
No matter the degree of tragedy and trauma, life must go on, and so hard work fills Jethro’s days. Like Bill before him, Jethro retreats into the silence of his own mind to mull over the circumstances and come to his own sense of understanding and peace. Importantly, Shad and Jethro reunite on Walnut Hill, the same place where Jethro bid farewell to Bill at the beginning of the war. As the family cemetery, Walnut Hill connects the living with the departed. Bill’s choice to join the Confederates essentially rendered him dead to his family. But now, Shad metaphorically comes back to life in Jethro’s world.
Themes
Jethro tells Shad how badly he wants to go to Springfield. Shad tells Jethro how he and Jenny happened to see President Lincoln in the street the very night of the assassination. Shad offers to take him to Springfield, but he (and Milton) worry that seeing the corpse of his hero will hurt Jethro more than help him. Jethro reluctantly agrees. And anyway, Shad continues, Jethro needs to help on the farm this summer. Then, in the fall, he and Jenny plan to take Jethro with them when Shad returns to college. They—and the entire Creighton family—want to see him get a good education. Soon, John and Eb will return to help with the farm work once again. Jenny calls out for Shad and Jethro from the house. The two men stand and walk back across Crooked Creek to the cabin where Jethro runs to embrace a sister who has both changed—and stayed the same.
The war left virtually nothing untouched, but Jethro, Shad, and everyone else can now tentatively look forward to a new sense of normalcy as people return to their homes and life resumes its old patterns. Still, everyone of this generation—and many of their descendants—will bear the marks of the conflict, and the country will grapple with its causes and its effects for decades to come. Despite the promise of his quick intelligence and strong character, Jethro was still just a boy when it began. Now, he has grown up and taken on both adult responsibilities and a mature perspective on the world. He has become worthy of his promise and clearly destined for a life beyond the grueling labor of subsistence farming.
Themes
