This book raises questions about human nature.  A key point of this book is the idea that when humans become afraid they turn into monsters.  I feel that it was exaggerated a bit because at the end someone fired on a Japanese boy that was for all intents and purposes, naked and posing no threat.  Nonetheless, I think that the commentary on humans when they are afraid is a major part of war.  This is shown when American soldiers fire on Okinawa refugees.  The soldiers fired on them because they knew that there were Imperial Japanese soldiers and people with explosives on them that were approaching.  They were afraid and fighting for their lives, so they committed an unthinkable act in modern-day society – fire on innocents.

The human nature part comments on something that isn’t that unbelievable.  After all, humans are just highly advanced animals.  I think that fear brings out the animal part of us and makes us fight for our survival and stop at nothing to survive.  The fight for survival is what brought the soldiers to shoot at civilians and massacre them.  I think that the fight for survival also brought the Japanese to use the civilians as human shields because they knew that they were outnumbered and were going to lose.

This also has religious issues.  There are many religions ranging from Hinduism to Greek, each with their own idea of the afterlife.  The Okinawans believe what they are doing is correct, and so do the Japanese.  However, religion does not stand in the way of possible death because when Hideki tried to deny a Imperial Japanese Army officer an offering of rice, his father told him to stop.  This shows how they aren’t religious a sit seems and show how little they faith they have in their religion.

As the main character, Hideki is the main focus of the story and it should be obvious that he impacts the story greatly.  He changes a lot over the course of the book, turning from a cursed coward to someone who is willing to risk his life to help those he loves.  This shows character growth as he one of his defining characteristics did a 180 degree turn.

Hideki is neither the protagonist nor the antagonist because he has done some questionable things (killed American soldier) but has not done anything unnecessarily bad like purposely attack someone.  This is also similar to the behavior of one of his classmates, Yoshio, who went from a bully to a good friend over the course of a few days.  He also loses some respect for religion after his father let a soldier take an offering of rice meant for his ancestors after being urged by his dad to do so.  He changes a lot and is focused on the most,  The devotion to his character development makes the others feel 2D and cardboard because I think that the author didn’t provide anyone else with much character development because he thought that the Hideki was the most important person.

Hideki adds a lot of flavor to the story with his background.  His family is one of the driving factors of the plot and he spends a large portion of the book completing his fathers last request (meet up with his sister) and later, escape from where they were kept to be used as human shields.  He mourns but forgets quickly of his deceased family members and he usually learns after something violent and traumatizing.  For example, after he killed Ray and was taken in by the Americans, he learned that they weren’t the violent monsters the Japanese said they were.

The book Grenade by Alan Gratz is the story of a boy named Hideki who lives on the island of Okinawa, an island that was once an idyllic island complete with beaches, rolling hills, and peaceful farmland. However, it was all taken away and turned into a wasteland when the Americans and the Japanese engaged in conflict on the little island in the Pacific. The theme of loss is especially prevalent in this book as several traumatic things happen to Hideki once the American Army commences the invasion.

With the beginning of the war came Hideki’s official entry into the Blood and Iron Student Corps. In the beginning, every student was handed two grenades – one two kill the Americans, and one to kill themselves with. After a while, Hideki and his classmates spot an American encampment. They decide to launch an attack, but one of his classmates decided the stress of war was too much and he decided and kills himself.  That one action changed the entire course of the book as it led to the deaths of many of the boys.  They were discovered by the American Army and most of his companions were soon killed by American bullets and the ones who survived were separated from each other and believed everyone else to be dead. It that instance, he lost everyone he grew up with.

Another instance of loss due to the war was the loss of most of his immediate family. His mother and sibling were shipped off the island by the IJA to protect them but it was sunk by an American battleship because it was carrying weapons and other equipment. Shortly after he received this news, his father died, leaving his sister the only surviving member of his family. Loss is a very large theme in this book and it spanned the entire book and affected the actions of the main character greatly.

‘”No,’ Hideki said. ‘No, if we attack them, we’re their enemy. When they’re not under attack, when they’re not afraid, the Americans are human beings. They actually helped me. Gave me medicine. Sewed up my head.'”

This quote is significant as it is comments on human nature and how humans no longer become humans when they are afraid. This quote shows the perspective of the narrator who experienced the war and saw what both sides were like when they started fighting. This quote adds deeper meaning to the book Grenade and it shows how under the mask of war, violence, and hatred, there are still human beings underneath. The quote also demonstrates how Hideki has a deeper understanding of the situation than others. When they came across problems, Hideki wanted to resolve them peacefully while his companions to use violence. For example, when faced with the problem of crossing over an area guarded by a machine gun nest, Kimiko, Hideki’s sister, wanted to use the last grenade on the nest while Hideki was in favor of distracting the soldiers in the nest rather than killing them. This quote stands out because it seems like a simple observation but it has a lot of meaning to it. This also connects to the larger issue of war and how soldiers aren’t themselves when they are fighting. This quote also foreshadows later when a young boy was shot by an American soldier out of fear. The soldier was afraid because the Imperial Japanese army attached explosives to civilians who had no part in the war and sent them toward the American army. However, when they realized that Hideki, the kids, and his sister weren’t a threat, they sent them to a refugee camp where they received food, water, and medical attention. If Hideki had taken an alternate path and used the grenade, he probably would have died by an American hand. When people are afraid, they become animals, returning to our survival instincts where we will do anything, even kill innocent people, to protect ourselves from an external threat.