Across Five Aprils Chapter Analysis

Chapter 1 – Analysis – Chapters 1 is somewhat of an explanation of what the rest of the book is going to be like. The author gives us a sense of whom the characters are and what roles they are going to play in the story. For example, by reading the chapter, I think that Jethro is a very sentimental boy. I think this because Jethro was simply thinking of the war, when he suddenly started thinking of his sister Mary, who had died some time before. Since this book is about the war, I think that it is going to be similar to My Brother Sam is Dead, in the way that it is going to affect the family. By this, I mean that like the book My Brother Sam is Dead, the war is going to tear apart the family with its conflicts and situations. I also noticed in this chapter that Jethro and his mother seem to be very close and attached to each other. I think this might be because of the reason that Jethro is one of Ellen’s few children that actually survived and did not die.

Chapter 2 – Analysis – In this chapter, Wilse Graham visits the Creighton family and at dinner, things get ugly. Arguments arise as talk about the war enters the Creighton home. Jethro’s brothers and Wilse come to a certain argument that struck me very hard. They share thoughts on the war and they also start talking about slaves. Wilse admits that he owns slaves and his cousins disagree with him and his decision to have slaves. I have to say that they are not the only ones. I personally disagree as well. Although as Wilse said in the book, slavery has been around since the beginning of history, I think that although that is true, I don’t think that gives him the right to own slaves for himself. He thinks that it is for the best of the slaves, but I am sure that if he were a slave, he wouldn’t think it was for the best! As I read this chapter, I realized that Wilse Graham is very stubborn and he always wants to be right. For example, when he was arguing with his family, whenever someone struck him with a