April Morning Chapter Analysis

Like a small boat on the ocean, Adam may have seemed helpless without the waves the community set into motion. Adams interaction with the community speaks for the role it played in the opening days of the Revolution. The unity among many men, the role of the woman, the recognition of the greater cause, and the community’s inexperience are all ways Howard Fast showed the importance of the contributions of the community in April Morning. Although the main character was Adam it was those around him that made the opening days what they were, and the success they rang. The first clue to the community being an asset was the unity among many men. Early on disagreements on strategy and how to deal with all that was going on was displayed showing the varied opinions of the community as a whole. After heated back and forth the decision comes to head with Adam’s Father, Moses Cooper, “Whereupon, you qualify your rights and duties by asking what seventy-nine men may be expected to do against a thousand” (p.64) The recognition of this being a test to the committee banded the men together like brothers. Much was speculation, things they had heard and not known, but what they did know is that they were together on the issue. Reverends, fathers, brothers and sons alike become one in the

The Reverend says “Here we stand with our arms in hand, but with no belligerence in our hearts” (p. 87). The point was not to fight, but to stand ground on what was important and worthy standing together for. Moses Cooper had one certainty and expressed this to the committee of men, “Our duty! Our oath in the holy name of Freedom!”(p.65). To rally a hodgepodge of undecided men the one word to do it was Freedom. To stand up for, fight for, even kill for a word and feeling such as freedom propels many characters in the book. The British were big, but the concept, the cause, was