April Morning Fast Analysis

The women in the book April Morning, by Howard Fast, play a major role in some events, and in others they do not. They never play a big role in the community regarding leadership and decision making, however, some of the women are a strong influence in Adam Cooper’s life. Not only were his mother and grandmother his emotional support and source of comfort, they were the backbone to the structure of their family. Fast does not view women as a key group that had a major influence at the start of the Revolution, but he does subtly recognize their importance. First, the women in April Morning played a major role in who Adam Cooper went to for support, especially when dealing with conflict between him and his dad, Moses Cooper. Adam would often

In April Morning Fast wrote, “…were not afraid of God but of women. “We have established the new matriarchy,” he said, and that led me to Granny for an explanation of what the word meant. “It means your father never grew up,” she said, but then went on to explain it properly. I subsequently decided that there was a good deal of truth in what Father said” (pg 132). While Moses Cooper is still the head of their household, Adam’s mother and Granny are their family’s backbone. Because Granny is the eldest and Moses Cooper’s mother, she has some authority over Moses. With the addition of Adam’s mother to Granny, their family structure resembles a matriarchy. On pages 45 and 46 of April Morning, Granny is talking to Moses with an authoritative tone about him being too hard on Adam and how Moses’ father acted very similar to him. This conversation between Granny and Moses shows that whether or not a person is still a boy or has grown into a man, they are still under the authority of their mother. April Morning is about Adam transitioning from a boy into a strong man, but his mother will be a constant authority figure in his

The Revolution was fought during a time when women had no rights and were not considered equal to men, but Fast wrote this book well after the women’s rights movement. Because of this difference in how women and their roles were viewed, he does not make them out to be a crucial part, however, in parts of April Morning Fast subtly includes how women were important in the beginning of the Revolution. An example of women not being seen as a heavy influence is in the beginning of the book when Adam told his mother he was going to the common to see what all the hype was about whether she approved or not (pg. 57). Adam did not care to hear what his mother had to say about him going to the common, so her input on this situation was completely ignored. Fast includes various comments made by characters throughout this book directed toward women to show the inequality between genders and are often stereotypical. An example of this is when Cousin Simmons says to Adam, “A girl is a frail thing, and not easy in the world until she has a home and a family of her own” (pg. 135). During this time period of the Revolution, men were supposed to protect and be heroes for the women in their town because women, at the time, were viewed as being incapable of doing that for themselves. The way Cousin Simmons talked about women in a stereotypical manner was how everyone viewed women. Fast including several