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
Many people in the county come to Matt Creighton’s aid that spring, donating money for a new harness and wagon, sharing their grain and hay, and helping to clean the well. Others volunteer to help raise a new barn as soon as they finish the spring planting. Jethro eventually becomes used to the sight of the old barn’s ashes in the yard, but he doesn’t get used to the fear, even after Ed Turner brings the family a new dog. And, as wounded soldiers return home from Shiloh, the community learns more about the dreadful battle. One, Dan Lawrence, brings news of Tom.
Matt Creighton showed himself to be a just and merciful man when Travis Burdow’s actions contributed to Mary’s death, and that reputation draws the community back to his support when he becomes the victim of another set of unjust circumstances. He sets an example of just and responsible manhood for his sons, including Jethro, and the community rewards him for this. But still, the terrible toll the war exacts can be seen in the wounded soldiers returning from Shiloh.
Themes
Dan Lawrence’s father brings him to the Creighton farm. The young soldier has suffered not just physical wounds but also deep trauma. In a quiet voice that’s not as firm as a soldier’s should be, he tells Matt and Ellen about Shiloh. Before the battle, the Union soldiers were in high spirits, enjoying the warm spring weather and discussing what they’d do after they “licked” the “Rebs.” But then, on the morning of April 6, a terrible commotion of cannon and screaming filled the camp: they were under attack. They held on through the day until reinforcements arrived. One minute, Tom stood next to Dan, celebrating their arrival, and the next he lay dead on the ground.
Dan’s soft, halting voice points both to his youth—he’s far too young to have suffered through what he has—and the trauma of battle. This holds especially true for the most brutal battles of the Civil War, including Shiloh, where casualties numbered in the tens of thousands. The Union soldiers approaching the battle have the same cavalier attitude as the North in general before the start of the war. But Shiloh conveys the same message that has reverberated through the first year of the war: war is terrible, traumatic, and dangerous, and victory can never be guaranteed.
Themes
News of Tom’s death spreads through the county quickly. Within a week of Dan Lawrence’s return, Ross Milton prints an open letter in the county newspaper addressed to the “gentlemen” and “patriots” who attacked the Creighton property. It informs them of Tom’s death and pointedly asks how their acts of vandalism measure up to Tom’s contribution to the Union cause. Jenny slips a cutting of this letter into the family Bible and turns to the family page to record the date of Tom’s death. Looking over her shoulder, Jethro feels for the first time the force of the tragic summer of 1852 when, within seven months of his own birth, three of his older brothers fell ill and died in quick succession. Jenny remembers these little boys, although her memories grow ever dimmer with passing time.
Tom’s sacrifice stands in stark contrast to the actions of the vigilantes, who risk neither bodily harm nor death for what Milton so disdainfully labels their “patriotic” actions—Milton’s disdain suggests, of course, that their actions lie far from patriotism indeed. On the farm, however, news of Tom’s death provides another reminder of the hardship, suffering, and fragility of life. Jethro can’t remember the three brothers who died of polio, but his lifetime experience with death—first Mary’s and now Tom’s—gives him insight into the size of that tragedy. And it puts the final nail in his immature hope that, while strangers might die, his own family would be spared the ultimate cost of war.
Themes
Jenny and Jethro reflect on the working of providence, like the miracle that spared the rest of the children the year the three boys died. Jethro reads the list of names. Some are strangers to him: twin sisters Lydia and Lucinda, who married and moved to Ohio, and his eldest brother, Benjamin, who left for California during the 1849 Gold Rush, and from whom no one has heard since. Jenny grows increasingly grave, and to cheer her up, Jethro points to the spot left blank to record her wedding date to Shadrach Yale. But she confesses to terrible fears now that news of Tom’s death has made the war irrevocably real to her.
Jenny’s mood threatens to be ruled entirely by her awareness of death and suffering, so Jethro tries to remind her of the joys and beauty in life—like love, and her someday-marriage to Shad. But they both now understand the tenuousness of life, especially in times of war.
Themes
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In the spring of 1862, there’s little joy or laughter in the Creighton house—once the center of such good-natured teasing, squabbling, and hilarity among the siblings—the neighborhood, or Jasper County. Social gatherings like dances, cornhuskings, horseshoe competitions, and spelling bees have all but evaporated. In New York, according to the papers, society life continues to be glittering and gay. But in rural areas, laughter becomes a scarce commodity.
Slowly the harsh realities of the war—which spares few if any families—sink in across the country. Urban life seems far less unsettled by the war, at least according to the papers, providing proof of Bill’s assertions (and Wilse’s) that Northern politicians and activists have lost touch with the lives of people in the rural areas.
Themes
But late in the summer, Guy Wortman gets his comeuppance in an incident that appeals to the rural county’s senses of humor and justice. Sam Gardiner makes his anger over the attacks against the Creightons plain. Knowing this puts him at risk for similar treatment, he stands guard over his store every night. Eventually, tired of waiting for the attack, he decides to draw it out. He tells everyone he plans a trip to St. Louis, makes a big show of leaving, and, with the help of an accomplice, sneaks back into town at night. He lies hidden in the loft above his darkened store for three days. On the third night, vandals lead by Wortman break in, whereupon Gardiner unloads a barrelful of buckshot into Wortman’s rear end.
The embarrassing way that Sam Gardiner pays Guy Wortman back for his vigilante vandalism suggests the degree to which the book finds Wortman’s attitude distasteful. Because the book argues for the importance of following one’s convictions and for the importance of considering the nuances of issues from all sides, it has no respect for Wortman or those like him who lack courage and conviction and who attack the weak and helpless.
Themes
The story of Wortman’s humiliation spreads around the county, thanks to the scathing report Ross Milton publishes in the paper. Wortman loses credibility even among his friends, and many people who formerly praised his actions come to their senses.
The book doesn’t just express distaste for those like Wortman, who act out of ignorance and prejudice, but also those who hold prejudicial and uninformed beliefs and cannot respect others’ rights.
Themes
A similarly ridiculous story plays out on the war’s front lines in the summer of 1862. After the catastrophe of Shiloh, General Halleck relieved General Grant of his leadership and took command of the Union troops himself. His comeuppance comes when he occupies the city of Corinth, where 20,000 Confederate troops had regrouped. His overly cautious, painfully slow approach allowed ample time for the Confederate forces to flee, leaving behind dummy campfires, cannon, and soldiers along with a few drummer boys to sell the illusion. Halleck occupied Corinth, but the unnoticed Confederate retreat denied him any glory.
Jethro’s interpretation of the stories about Halleck at Corinth offers another reminder that true glory belongs to those who act out of their convictions rather than those who try to please others. Because he seems to pay more attention to how others will perceive his actions than the needs of the military campaign at hand, Halleck overcorrects for the perceived flaws in Grant’s decisions at Shiloh. His excessive caution allows the Confederates to make a fool of him.
Themes
These events trouble Jethro, who respects education and men in high places. Yet military experts like McClellan and Halleck botch important campaigns, reports of heavy drinking tarnish Grant’s reputation, and the jockeying for position and authority among the Union generals plays out in the papers for all to see. The North lacks a unifying leader to match up to the Confederates’ General Robert E. Lee. If the North stands for the righteous cause, Jethro wonders, why does the South get better generals? And, although Jethro doesn’t know it, both men in high places and lowly foot-soldiers ask the same questions as the war marches on toward the terrible battles yet to come.
Jethro learns an important lesson about maturity here: the actions make the man (or the adult), much more so than his (or their) education or position. In this light, the Confederate General Lee seems a much better example of manhood (or at least military leadership) than the Northern generals, because of his focus, disciplined and lack of vices like alcoholism, arrogance, or pride. Jethro also learns that that the relationship between a righteous cause and upstanding men isn’t a foregone conclusion. If good men can fight to defend bad ideas and bad men can fight to defend good ones, it becomes ever more important to be responsible for learning enough to make one’s own decisions (as Jethro is doing) and to guide one’s actions by self-determined conscience rather than just following the opinions of the crowd.
Themes
