Across Five Aprils Quotes

“Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.” - Paul Boese. That quote is a perfect illustration of one of the main concepts of Across Five Aprils. This novel by Irene Hunt tells the tale of the Creightons, a family living in Southern Illinois during the American Civil War. When war breaks out among the states, the Creighton boys go off to fight for the side each believes in. Tom, Eb, and John go off to fight for the Union in the North, while Bill goes to fight for the rebels down in the South. Though this war rips the Creighton family apart, it illustrates that even when all seems lost, forgiveness helps people through long periods of sorrow and hate. Although Eb initially thought that war would be a fun time, full of glory, after his first battle, he soon realized that war was much worse than he had expected. Especially after the loss of his close cousin Tom, in the battle of Shiloh, Eb discovers the true horrors of war. All of this soon drives Eb to desert, and head back home, all the while, his family is completely unaware of this. In the

It helped not only the deserters and the Union army since they had gotten extra men that they badly needed. Moreover, this theme relates to Eb’s own experience because being shown forgiveness, he could join back with his regiment. Eb and the rest of his army went on to win several more battles. Eb wrote that it is hard for some people not to hate him for what he had done, but he was determined to do his job until he couldn’t anymore (Hunt 150). By the end of the novel, Eb returns home, not with the shame of a deserter, but with his head held high, as a serviceman for his country's army. In this book, President Lincoln’s forgiveness changed the course of his life where he would have had to be a fugitive on the run for the rest of his life, but now he could come home with the pride of being a