| April Morning | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Howard Fast |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Historical fiction, young adult |
| Publisher | Bantam |
| Publication date | 1961 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 202 |
| ISBN | 0-553-27322-1 |
| OCLC Number | 3116580 |
April Morning is a 1961 novel by Howard Fast depicting the Battle of Lexington and Concord from the perspective of a fictional teenager, Adam Cooper. It takes place in the 27-hour period from April 18, 1775 to the aftermath of the battle. During that stretch, Adam comes of age and resolves his difficulties with his intellectually demanding father, Moses Cooper.
While the novel was not originally written as a young adult story, it has increasingly been assigned in middle school English and social studies classes, due to the age of the protagonist and Fast's meticulous efforts to recreate the texture of daily life in colonial America and the political currents on the eve of the American Revolution.
In 1987, a film version was made for television starring Chad Lowe as Adam and Tommy Lee Jones as Moses. It is often shown in classes where the book is read. Legendary director John Ford had intended to follow up his film 7 Women with a film version of April Morning, but soon became too sick and had to pull out of the project. Had Ford had his way, he would have had his frequent collaborator John Wayne play Moses. Ford once said that out of all the film projects he was not able to do for one reason or another, the only one he really regretted not doing was April Morning, because it could have been his early gift to America's bicentennial.
The novel is organized into eight chapters named for the times of the day when they occur. It all takes place in a time span of less than two full days. In that short time many dramatic events happen.
Contents |
The novel begins in the afternoon with Adam getting water for dinner from the Coopers' well. He is interrupted by his eleven year-old brother Levi. As he returns to his home, his father Moses reprimands him for superstitious ignorance. Similarly, his mother Sarah upbraids him for not spending his free time reading and memorizing the Bible's Book of Lamentations. At dinner, Moses sternly reprimands Adam for the ignorance represented by the spell and points to the Cooper family tradition, in 125 years in the American colonies, of literacy, rationalism and intellectualism. He pointedly tells him that he is not yet a man in his father's eyes. As dinner ends, the Coopers are visited by their cousin Joseph Simmons, who is a member of the local Committee of correspondence, which organizes resistance to the British. He and Moses work on a declaration of their rights before they go to the Committee meeting. Moses refuses to let Adam join him.
That evening, Adam learns that the attendees discussed matters of revolt and whether or not to keep minutes. Moses convinces the men to be proud of their speech and not fear punishment for treason. Meanwhile, Adam visits Ruth, whom he admires. She once told everyone that she was going to marry him when they grew up. He finally vents his frustration with his father's constant belittling. They part with a kiss.
That night Adam and Levi overhear a midnight rider say that the British are coming. Adam joins the militia in order to resist the British, which, surprisingly, Moses agrees to, telling Sarah that Adam is no longer a boy in his eyes. Father and son prepare for combat and talk about the relationship between Adam and Ruth. After breakfast, they join the militia to face the British on the green. About 70 men and boys gather in Lexington and when the British arrive shortly after dawn they encounter two lines of militia. The colonists stand their ground though the British commander, Major Pitcairn, orders them to disperse. A shot is fired by a British soldier, starting the battle, in which Moses is killed. After the British kill more of the colonists, the outnumbered militia flees the battlefield. Adam hides in a nearby smokehouse, worrying about his father's death.
Later that afternoon, Adam hears two British soldiers outside the smokehouse debate whether to burn it, but they do not. He escapes through the woods but runs into two British soldiers and is nearly shot. Escaping across a meadow he encounters Solomon Chandler, who tells him stories in order to assuage his fear after having lost his father. He assures him that despite having run away when the shooting started on the green, he is not a coward. The two join a group of militiamen, and he tells them all what happened in Lexington.
Soon, more militias gather and they learn that the British took heavy casualties at the Old North Bridge. They gather along the road back to Boston and plan an ambush of the retreating British. The British troops arrive and the militia open fire. After several volleys, the militia runs away and the British do not pursue. The militia regathers and the British approach again. The militia lays another ambush, in which they retreat down the road under cover of sharpshooters killing the British from great distances. They continue to lay ambushes for the British, and retreat through the woods. They meet up with others at a nearby barn and decide to set yet another trap for the British along a nearby road. Along the way they encounter, and defeat, a British cavalry patrol.
The group of militia men continues to grow, with men from neighboring towns joining in, and they set another trap. Meanwhile, they see smoke rising from the vicinity of Lexington and think that the village has been burnt by the British. The attack on them goes as planned, but Adam falls asleep during it. Soon he gets leave to return to Lexington and console his family. He finds his house unburned, and his family is relieved he isn't dead. Moses' body is brought home. They bear him to the church with the other dead. As Adam looks over the damage left from the battle, he realizes that, unlike Levi, he has left childhood behind.
That evening, Adam returns to his home. Many neighbors have come to visit and prepare food there, including Ruth, and she and Adam talk. She asks about the battle in the morning on the green, and he tells her about some of the things he saw. She worries that the British will come again and the same thing will happen, but he reassures her. She then asks him if he loves her, and after thinking about it, he says yes. She tells him that she loves him and then they part. After returning home to a nearly empty house, he goes to bed thinking about the changes that happened to him during those two days.
The novel was adapted for TV in the Hallmark Hall of Fame in 1988 by James Lee Barrett. This production was directed by Delbert Mann.[1]
April Morning, by Howard Fast. Originally published 1961. Mass Market Paperback: Bantam, 1983. ISBN 0553273221
|
||||||||