The Riflemen In the beginning of the Revolutionary War, a sixty-one year old man partakes in an epic quest to shape the life of a young man through a series of vicious battles. The novel April Morning by Howard Fast is a story about Adam Cooper, a young solider in Massachusetts, fighting in the Revolutionary War and becoming a man. Adam Cooper’s future had been uncertain, but there was hope. Sympathetic yet unruly and dangerous, Salomon Chandler is instrumental in Cooper’s survival. Salomon Chandler is sympathetic to Adam in a variety of ways. He recognizes the need for compassion in the war-torn world, and speaks to Adam in a time of desperation, “Let the tears run freely” (Fast115). During times of great need, Salomon comforts Adam with tact. Adam’s father dies tragically from a bullet wound and Adam horror and depression begins which spurs Salomon to act in his natural way of sympathy, “The natural way is to let the old go, let the young live, and taste life” (Fast117). He explains that life is short on Earth and that they soon they be reunited with loved ones.…show more content… To encourage troop morale and the general state of mind of Adam, Salomon remarks on the soldiers while Adam is nervous and worried: “Realize their stupidity and ignorance” (Fast 120). He spouts derogatory remarks about their terrible army makeup; many of them convicts, footpads, or delusional religious zealots that act in their superiors’ interests. Rather than being civil, Salomon exhibits aggressive moments at rare moments when his feelings are going: “`It is only by the mercy of that same Lord god Jehovah that I don’t cut your throat” (Fast