COMPARISON: two civil war stories

[feather_ghyll]

A book-related post!

It’s perhaps unfair to compare these two children’s books about two civil wars, but I read them quite close to each other, so the comparison came readily. Irene Hunt wrote ‘Across Five Aprils’ about the American civil war, as experienced by one Jethro Creighton, while Dorothea Moore (whom I've never posted about here before although I have copies of her books) wrote ‘Perdita, Prisoner of War’ - yes, I admit the title made me grab for it – about Perdita Eynescliffe’s experiences in the English civil war.

I say it’s unfair to compare them chiefly because Irene Hunt is a far superior writer to Moore, but I also think their approach and goals were different. Loosely based on family history, Hunt’s story follows Jethro over those five Aprils of the title, covering the war. He’s the baby of his farming family, with many surviving older siblings. Two of his brothers, a cousin he has been brought up to think of like a brother, his sister’s sweetheart and others who he knows will go to battle. Not all will come back.

Moreover, although the Creightons live in Illinois, on the side of the Union/Federal army of the North, they do have familial ties with the Southern ‘reb’ states. One of Jethro’s brothers, Tom, stands against popular opinion. Although he’s not in favour of slavery, neither can the nascent socialist countenance the attitude of the north’s industrialists and, after much internal debate, goes to fight with what most of the neighbourhood sees as the ‘other side’, making things even more difficult for the Creightons.

At the beginning of the book, Jeth, a bright boy, is nine, but all of these things hit his father hard, and with all the young men gone, Jethro has to take on a man’s responsibilities before his time, and, of course, the war is longer and bloodier than everyone hoped. With his older sister Jenny, Jethro follows the tidings of war via newspapers and scarce letters, and tries to puzzle it out. He’s a sympathetic character, starting out looking for a hero, but living in a time of slaughter and growing to realise that a cessation of hostilities would not heal all his family’s hurts. All of this is set in its historical context, the characters’ distinctive idiom comes through and Hunt’s clear prose contains apt descriptive passages. She doesn’t make as much of the title as a structure as you might expect, as the first April gets the most attention. Although on first reading it, the most incredible event made me raise my eyebrows, further thought suggests it’s probably based on a real event.

On the other hand, Moore’s book is a less sophisticated story – in fact it’s a bit of a romp with a Royalist heroine whose stint as a ‘prisoner of war’ is comparatively light. She mainly spends it embroiled in a battle of wills with grown men whom she outsmarts.

The petted and spirited daughter of Royalist Sir Reginald Eynescliffe, Perdita is seven when the war started. Her father and brother Sylvester declared themselves for the King, but Perdita’s half-brother Adrian did not, causing a rift in the family that tender-hearted Perdita would like to see healed. She is an ardent Royalist herself, out of unthinking loyalty, there is none of Jeth’s puzzling out what he thinks for himself. In addition, her life is far more privileged than Jethro’s. As she turns twelve, she has a series of adventures that lead to her becoming a ‘prisoner of war’ with access to the royal children.

For what it is, the book is fine. Perdita is honourable for a very capable plotter, quick witted and dauntless. But it’s all admittedly one-sided when it comes to the war. Although there are hints that a few of Sylvester’s sports-mad Cavalier friends are far from heroic, the villains are all hypocritical and cruel Roundheads, although Perdita is mainly in the care of one Parliamentary family who treat her kindly and let their children have fun. But the most interesting character in the book is Perdita’s half-brother Adrian, whose reasons for siding with the Parliamentarian cause aren’t explained at all. He deserts the army because he was ordered to be cruel to a child and then, conveniently, turns ‘for King’ with no real examination of motivation. I know most children’s lit in the twentieth century sided with the Royalists, but after ‘Across Five Aprils’’s delicate take on the complexities of loyalties in another civil war, it’s simply not good enough to be so superficial and partisan. Hunt’s book, while looking at how hard living through the American civil war was for one family and society, is not too complex or adult for a child. Of course, they were different civil wars, playing different roles in national psyches – with one being more distant, too, but Hunt’s book feels like a more honest treatment of the subject (and I say that as someone who likes a good hisotical romp of an adventure.)