April Morning Howard Fast Analysis

Imagine being in the middle of a battle at the ripe age of 15 years old. How do you think you would handle it? The book April Morning by Howard Fast is a story about The Battle of Lexington. Adam Cooper is a character who is a boy in the beginning, a boy starting to become a man and by the end, he is a man with responsibilities. Adam Cooper is the main protagonist in the story, he is a boy that wants to be treated like a man. Being a man lets you think for yourself and make your own decisions. Adam is not able to do that in the beginning of this book. When Adam’s mother tells him that a boy should be reading the bible in his free time, she is treating him like a boy in that aspect, because a man should be able to make his own decisions. …show more content…
This makes him one of the most dynamic and round characters in the novel. After the muster, where Adam signed up to be in the militia, Moses knows that Adam is on the verge of becoming a man. Sarah does not want to accept the fact that he is becoming one so Moses tells her, “You can’t shield him. There comes a time, and this is that time.” (Fast 75.) It troubles both of Adam’s parents how terribly he wants to be a man, but they know he is serious. Moses tells Sarah that he was a boy yesterday, but a man tonight. Sarah does not think you can go from a boy to a man in one day, but Adam proves how wrong she is. Even though Adam is on the verge of becoming a man, he has a long way to go at this point. Adam has moments where he still acts like a boy. He does not fully realize what he got himself into when he signed up at the muster. This shows when he is loading his gun, he forgets that he is not hunting an animal but an actual human being. Adam also lacks the confidence of a man. He realizes that he is not actually a man when all the beards on the men’s faces amaze him right before they confront the British. He starts to have second doubts about joining the