In the book, Grenade, by Alan Gratz the main character Hideki and the other Japanese and american soldiers are all impacted by fear and death. Fear and the fear of death has influenced many of Hideki’s actions throughout the book. Throughout the book Hideki’s main goal is to reunite with his sister. He has fear that in the process he might die. He realises that but the only way he’ll be able to find his last living family member is to risk his life. All the soldiers are motivated by fear. If they do something wrong there dead and due to this pressure they’ve cracked are not who they used to be. They’ve become monsters in a way. This idea can be seen through the end part of the book. Fear is a lead factor to many of the decisions they have to make. The consequences being death. Many of the Japanese military hid in natural caves and captured okinawans to become human shields and distractions. The Okinawans had no choice but to follow them. The japanese knew that they were not winning this battle but as long as they could take out as many American troops as possible and slow down the U.S then they’ll be able to slow the U.S.’s progress to mainland Japan. Also the American troops fear the Japanese because they’ve been hidden all around the Island and there just waiting to attack. Fear and death are one of the main contributors to what makes people good and what makes people evil. The fear of death can have a large influence on what others do and how they act. Sometimes the pressure can get to them and cause damage. While other times the need for survival and the will to live can benefit others in positive ways.   

In the book Grenade, the main characters Hideki and Ray are about to fight in a battle against the Americans and the Japanese/Okinawans. Later Ray and Hideki coward and could not take brutality and violence of the battle so they ran away. Coincidentally, they ran into each other. Each of them took out their weapon to use, but Hideki was faster and killed Ray. Hideki recognized and realized he’d seen him before. He overheard his name, Rei, which is Japanese for Ghost. “With a shiver, Hideki suddenly remembered, rei was another word for ghost.” This is significant because Hideki tries to figure out the person he once was and now that he has killed someone, regret is now looming over him as a ghost. This can also be taken literally as Ray’s ghost now following hideki. This adds a motive not to kill anyone or hurt anyone. Hideki is now back in reality and has witnessed the violence of war and has realized how bad it is. This quote stood out to me because the choice of the name seems very important to the overall story and relates how hideki believes in ghosts. This foreshadows that maybe Hideki wants to pay respects to the person he just killed and almost avenge him. This can connect to the thematic issue of regret and how it can take over people. People can either have regret that tears them apart or aceptice what they’ve done and try to resolve it even though people might not be able to.   

One theme that can be seen in “Grenade” by Alan Gratz is how fear impacts human behavior. 

Ray’s squad decides to investigate a sea cave near a cliff. One of the men throws a grenade into the cave to flush any people in it. Native Okinawans come out screaming. Instead of surrendering to the Americans they rather take their lives by Jumping over the Cliff. “Suddenly, people came streaming out of the cave… but it was a woman holding a baby… he watched as people ran away screaming from the Marines. They went straight for the edge of the cliff…” pg 54. During WWII the japanese sent propaganda to the Okinawans that stated that the U.S were monsters and would brutally slaughter any civilians that came in their path. This was incorrect but the civilians believed it. As a result the civilians’ fear overcame them and fueled their decisions about whether they should live or die. 

We can also see this kind of behavior in Ray. When he gets chosen to be on Guard duty he hears a Japanese soldier approach him and he has a split second to react. “‘Bonzai!’the soldier screamed, charging at Ray and Big John. Ray flinched and pulled his trigger -PAKOW- and the bullet hit the soldier.” This shows that fear impacts your actions and how you behave. If he didnt of shoot the soldier he and Big john would have been dead. Fear also plays into your fight or flight instincts how in  a split second you have the decisions to run away or to fight back.

The theme fear can be seen in both the Okinawans and Ray. How fear can influence your decisions and behavior in so many ways. When people become afraid their instincts kick in. Fear can cloud your judgment and people can make mistakes when they’re under the influence of it. People might regret what happened in the moment because they tried to protect themselves and might’ve protected others. Fear can help live or die in dangerous situations.