Loss Of Innocence In Irene Hunt's Across Five Aprils

In the historical fiction novel, Across Five Aprils, Irene Hunt showcases the Creighton family and their struggles of living through the Civil War. Our protagonist, Jethro Creighton, is a young boy of nine living in southern Illinois when experiencing the bitter effects of the war. Jethro is faced with violent disputes about the Union and Confederates among his family, which leaves his family shattered. As the war goes on, it causes stress for his family members and unfortunately weakens his father. Jethro has to take action and tend to the family farm, which causes him to mature at a young age. Through Jethro’s experiences, the novel conveys that suffering and loss of innocence is needed to create maturity within an individual. As the youngest

At the start of the novel, Jethro was a cheerful young boy with a naive description of war. In fact, the imminence of war had excited Jethro to where he thought that war was about men riding shining horses to loud brass music (Hunt 15). However, his innocent belief about war soon became tainted as the realities of war became more prominent. After 4 long years of living through war, Jethro was no longer the same and became reserved and mature (Hunt 178). Jethro relates to this theme because he started out as a clueless boy. In spite of that, he goes through suffering and deals with hardships that swiftly forces him to grow and develop. His perception of war changes, and he understands that war is cruel and harsh. Nearing the end of the novel, Jethro explains how he doesn’t understand his feelings. An editor and friend of Jethro, Ross Milton, tells Jethro how peace won’t turn out to be a perfect pearl (Hunt 179). He explains how the scars from the war will take some time to heal and his feelings were valid. Jethro has a positive effect on many characters in Across Five Aprils. His refreshing personality allows many people in his life to befriend him and teach valuable lessons to him. However, with all the trauma he faced during and after the war, he became sad and melancholy. Shadrach soon comes home from war and chats with Jethro, consulting him.