Genre
Middle Grade
Setting and Context
It is set in an unnamed country in a town called Hampton.
Narrator and Point of View
Third-person narration from the alternating viewpoints of Peter and Pax.
Tone and Mood
Emotional and heartwarming
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonists are Peter and Pax while the antagonist is war and distance.
Major Conflict
After the outbreak of war, Peter is separated from his friend and pet, Pax. Their time apart allows them to grow and change but they pursue to return to each other despite the many challenges.
Climax
The climax occurs when Peter finds his fox being attacked by coyotes and scares them away.
Foreshadowing
The toy soldier being thrown foreshadows the loss of innocence that Peter and Pax will undergo.
Understatement
N/A
Allusions
The novel alludes to the wars in the 20th century that devastated the world.
Imagery
“Through the pads of his paws, along his spine, in the sensitive whiskers at his wrists. By the vibrations, he learned also that the road had grown coarser. He stretched up from his boy’s lap and sniffed at threads of scent leaking in through the window, which told him they were now traveling into woodlands. The sharp odors of pine—wood, bark, cones, and needles—slivered through the air like blades, but beneath that, the fox recognized softer clover and wild garlic and ferns, and also a hundred things he had never encountered before but that smelled green and urgent.”
Paradox
“Do you think anyone in the history of this world ever set out to fight for the wrong side?”
Parallelism
The narrative parallels the journey and growth of Peter and Pax simultaneously.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
“…and slid it into his backpack.”
Personification
“The smell of stale grease and onions crawled over him, seeping from the walls, from the bed itself.”
