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
Although the spring of 1862 caused the Creighton family a lot of worry and grief, Jethro understands from the papers how its battles helped the Union Army toward breaking the Confederate line at the Mississippi River. But the fall brings a shift; Confederate forces regain ground in Tennessee as the Union Army seems ever more “disorganized and hopeless.”
The longer the war goes on, the more Jethro realizes how accurate the prediction of his elder—mother, father, Shad—were: far from being an easy romp for Union soldiers, it proves to be long, brutal, and uncertain.
Themes
Despite the war, life on the farm goes on much as usual. In September, dozens of men descend on the farm to raise a new barn. Ross Milton comes, too; although he is far too disabled to actually help, be brings a load of logs from none other than Dave Burdow. Burdow’s reputation in the neighborhood has improved since he saved Jethro’s life. At midday, the men devour a feast that Ellen, Nancy, and Jenny prepared. And for the hour that the meal lasts, it seems almost as if there is no war.
The shift in community perceptions of Dave Burdow confirms the lessons Jethro receives from elsewhere that a man’s actions demonstrate his character. And Milton’s presence despite his debilitating arthritis offers a potent reminder of the beauty of camaraderie and support in a life defined by hardship and suffering.
Themes
But in the afternoon, Jethro overhears conversations about the battle at Antietam. President Lincoln gave General McClellan another chance to prove himself there, but he failed. According to the gossiping barn-raisers, McClellan cares more about bragging than winning. Some of the men suspect that McClellan—and even President Lincoln—doesn’t actually want to win. One of the adults ruffles Jethro’s hair and tells him to be glad he doesn’t have to deal with these adult troubles. Jethro, knowing his place, doesn’t dare to contradict the man, although he resents being treated as an ignorant child when he is anything but one.
The Creightons’ gossipy neighbors confirm the book’s claim that character shows itself in actions. The gossipy neighbors also reiterate the book’s thesis that self-determination and the courage to follow one’s convictions are among the most important aspects of a person’s character. McClellan fails because he cares more about what people think of him than about what his actions actually imply about his character; Lincoln seems to be failing to follow through on the North’s main aim of emancipating enslaved people. And while Jethro’s life circumstances force him into the role of an adult, not everyone yet respects him enough to see that he understands the movements of the far-off war as well as they do (if not better) and that the war doesn’t care about people’s age—it affects everyone.
Themes
Finally, the family receives a letter from Shad, who saw his first action at Antietam under the leadership of General McClellan. This letter contains no youthful love-talk. Shad describes how the soldiers treat the dashing McClellan with an almost religious devotion. They dislike it when newer recruits fail to share their hero worship. Shad has a guarded opinion of McClellan, whom he believes to be personally brave and generally devoted to the cause. But he fears that the general considers his reputation before the best interests of the Union cause when he makes battlefield decisions. In the fall of 1862, Jethro thinks Antietam a costly victory for the Union Army; only in later years would he understand the degree to which it was marred by Union failures.
If Jethro retained any lingering faith in McClellan’s character, Shad’s letter dispels it. McClellan’s actions arise form a desire to be liked rather than consideration for victory or personal conviction. In this way, his character contrasts with Bill’s, since Bill followed his conscience despite the contempt it brought on him and his family. Shad also shows himself to be a man of his own mind and convictions; he doesn’t blindly follow along with the crowd of soldiers in their admiration of McClellan, but instead he considers the situation carefully for himself before drawing his own conclusions. Finally, while the book glosses over the details of the Battle of Antietam, it’s notable that Shad’s letter occurs in its context—not only was it the bloodiest single day of American history, but it was the first major battle of the war to be fought on Union soil; thus McClellan’s failure there not only suggests his personal failures but maps metaphorically onto the initial underlying initial of Union leaders and supporters who didn’t expect meaningful resistance from the Southern states.
Themes
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If Antietam was horrific, the Battle of Fredericksburg causes even more despair throughout the North. The commanding Union general sacrifices wave after wave of men to reach Confederate troops entrenched atop the surrounding hills. Jethro and Jenny wait anxiously until a letter finally arrives from Shad. In it, Shad bitterly expresses his wish that the congressmen and their ladies who treated the war’s first battle (Bull Run) as a day’s entertainment had been there to see thousands of soldiers “falling like toy soldiers,” mown down by Confederate fire. The men who commanded these “simple soldiers” are, in Shad’s opinion, little more than common murderers.
Continuing the theme of the horrors of war, Shad’s next letter describes an even more brutal battle and its senseless waste of life. He bitterly suggests that the people who support the war from afar—like the civilians who truly did drive out with picnics to watch the opening battles in April 1861—should pay more attention to the horrors and trauma endured by the men and boys who fight on behalf of the Northern cause. And Shad’s loss of respect for his leaders reminds Jethro that actions—not position, clout, education, or anything else—prove a person’s character.
Themes
Early in 1863, John sends a letter home after the Battle of Stones River in Tennessee. Although technically a Union victory, it cost 13,000 lives. John wearily writes Nancy that “the sufferin and scenes of deth was sech as to make a mans hart hate war.” The cost of battles like Fredericksburg and Stones River make soldiers and citizens at home alike begin to fear that the great nation gloriously birthed during the Revolutionary War must dissolve into two weak countries. And deserters begin to return home by the thousands.
John spoke more loudly on behalf of the Union cause at the beginning of the book, suggesting that he was more eager to join the army than Shadrach, yet both men arrive at the conclusion that war is hell on earth, a dirty and horrible business, even when the cause is righteous. And as the war drags on, the South proves to be far more committed to its cause than many in the North expected, clearly making the war a primal battle for the survival of American and the values it stands for.
Themes
