Jonathan

Jonathan is a thirteen-year-old boy living on a farm in rural New Jersey. The story covers two days in April 1778, in the midst of the American Revolutionary war. Jonathan's father fought in the war and incurred a serious injury to his leg. He is not able to get around without great difficulty. Jonathan is daydreaming about becoming a soldier. His father apparently denied him permission because of his injury—he needs Jonathan's help around the farm. While Jonathan interprets the fear in his father's eyes as a form of cowardice, the reader understands his father fears for his son and does not want to see him go off to war to be killed or injured. His father already has an older son who joined the army a year ago. His parents have had no word from his since he left. The worry and sadness on his mother's...