Adam's Conflict

In “April Morning” by Howard Fast, set in Lexington, Massachusetts during the American Revolutionary war. The main character, Adam Cooper, struggles with an internal conflict about shooting other people in battle.

As an average teenage boy, Adam was excited to fight the British. When the time came, the battle wasn’t what he fantasized war would be like. The reality was that his father was shot and killed, along with a multitude of other colonists. Frighten and alone, he hid in smokeshack under some bacon.

After hiding in the smokeshack, he decides to run away from Lexington and the British. Then he literally runs into Solomon Chandler, who escorts him to his cousin’s house. On the way to the cousin’s house, Solomon talks about how troops in the British are either felons or “poor, ignorant devils.” I think that makes Adam think that British are less than human, making them easier to shoot.  A little awhile later Adam and his cousin Joshua Dover, in a fight with the British. Joshua talks to Adam about his father and tells him nothing can replace him. I think that helped Adam to be at peace with his father death. During the battle of Concord, Adam overcomes his fears and shoots at the British soldiers; although he did not kill any of them.

Adam over came his fear of shooting someone during the bloody battle of Concord. After the battle of Concord, Adam goes home and gets a hero’s welcome.