The novel suggests that Samuel Adams and
James Otis had very different attitudes toward the revolution. Adams’s
personal history implies that he may want to start a war with Britain
out of revenge. The British Parliament ruined his father’s finances
by destroying the bank where he kept his money. Adams’s rhetoric
expresses his anger and outrage at the British, as evidenced by
his posters and propaganda. He tries to rouse the colonists to resist
British rule by using words that convey that England is an inhuman,
machine-like enemy. He does not focus on the natural rights of man
and the independent spirit of the colonists. Rather, Adams expresses
how the British government is oppressive, a tyranny that is destroying
the lives of the colonists. War is a necessary evil that the colonists
must use to gain their independence from such a tyrannical government.
On the other hand, James Otis wants to fight so that
“a man can stand up.” He challenges Adams’s reasons for fighting
the war, which are not for peace but for destruction and conflict.
Otis wants the colonists to have the right to choose who rules over
them, and not fight simply to protect the money of the Americans.
His rousing speech to the Boston Observers focuses on the natural
rights that free men should enjoy. He has an idealistic vision of
an independent America; however, he cannot drive the colonists to
war merely on ideals and hopes. Adams’s passion and fervor, coupled
with Otis’s reasons and ideals, ignite the revolutionary spirit.
James Otis may have loftier reasons than Samuels Adams
for inspiring the Revolutionary War. However, the end result is
the same, which is that many colonists will sacrifice their lives,
and kill many innocent British men, to achieve American independence. Samuel
Adams did his duty, and he was able to incite many colonists to
fight the war, particularly when many Americans were still loyal to
the British. However, Otis provided the colonists with rational, heartfelt
reasons for fighting the war. At first, Johnny is similar to Adams,
and he searches for ways to get revenge instead of to forgive. Later,
Johnny redirects his passions and fervor and wants to fight for the
rights of his fellow men. Thus, Johnny’s patriotism toward his country
is based on both Otis’s and Adams’s attitudes. Otis’s soft, low
voice and Adams’s passion are appealing in different ways. When
Johnny dreams about the lobsters with human eyes, he also sees how
both sides of the war effort are unappealing: Hancock’s pity of
humanity and Adams’s pleasure at cruelty. Ironically, both of these
attitudes led to a war that caused the loss of human lives, and also
the freedom of the human spirit.