American War

So much of the novel is told from Sarat's radicalized worldview that it is refreshing to see El Akkad introduce a character like Karina, who offers a more balanced perspective on both Sarat and the war in general. In many ways, Karina acts as a mouthpiece for the author to express his views on terror and radicalization. In fact, one quote in particular echoes what El Akkad told the Guardian about understanding Sarat as a character while withholding admiration: "[Karina] knew from experience that there existed no soldier as efficient, as coldly unburdened by fear, as a child broken early. And she knew from the news and from townie gossip what the girls had been though. And because she knew, she understood. But that didn't mean she had to admire [Sarat]" (180).

Karina also echoes El Akkad’s themes when she expresses the extent to which terror and extremism can easily grow out of any war-torn nation—West or East, Christian or Muslim: "And what she understood—what none of the ones who came to touch Simon's forehead understood—was that the misery of war represented the world's only truly universal language. Its native speakers occupied different ends of the world, and the prayers they recited were not the same and the empty superstitions to which they clung so dearly were not the same—and yet they were. War broke them the same way, made them scared and angry and vengeful the same way. In times of peace and good fortune they were nothing alike, but stripped of these things they were kin. The universal slogan of war, she'd learned, was simple: If it had been you, you'd have done no different" (184). Interestingly, this quote serves as the inverse of Leo Tolstoy's famous principle from Anna Karenina, "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." (Tolstoy, Leo, 1828-1910. Anna Karenina. Moscow: The Russian Messenger. 1877.) In Karina's telling, however, all happy countries are different, but all unhappy countries are the same, regardless of their culture or religion.

Another character who provides some balanced perspective to Sarat is Layla Denomme, owner of the Belle Rebelle in Augusta. When Sarat derides the "phony peace plan" (215) that's gaining support across the South, Layla points to a group of grievously injured war veterans and says, "They're not young like you; most of them are old enough to remember when it wasn't like this, when there was peace. And if you'd known that, you'd want it back too" (215). This quote expands on what Karina says about children being the best soldiers. That's because for children and teenagers like Sarat, they're too young to know anything but war. War is sadly the norm for Sarat, just as it is in so many parts of the globe. Consider the War in Afghanistan, which as of 2019 is older than Sarat herself at this point in the novel.

Finally, one of the central scenes in this novel is the Yuffsy match Sarat and Dana attend with Bragg, Jr., which doubles as a metaphor for the war between North and South:

Two men remained, and although one of them had gone into the ring the favorite, the other now commanded the audience's affection. A few cheered because they knew the hopeless challenger came from the site of the famous Blue massacre, others because they knew he had failed to win a Yuffsy in twenty-three tries, a record. But most cheered because of an innate desire to back the underdog. That he stood no chance against his youth-armored opponent only endeared him further to the roaring crowd. Instinctively, they expected of him the same chivalrous defiance they believed they themselves, placed in the same position, would show (209).

The author accomplishes a number of things with this metaphor. On the simplest level, the challenger Taylor represents the hopelessness of the Southern cause against its overmatched Northern enemy. However, it's very telling that the crowd urges him to fight on in a spirit of chivalry, rather than urge Taylor to tap out and surrender. While chivalry often refers to customs surrounding how men treat woman, here it indicates a preservation of one's honor, against all odds. It is the reason why people like Taylor—and, for that matter, Sarat—will die before they stop fighting the North. That stubborn sense of honor outweighs rationality, ideology, and self-preservation, adding another wrinkle to El Akkad's characterization of the psyche of an insurgent.