The Effects of War

While acknowledging that life is inevitably filled with change that people must accept in order to move forward, the author warns that the rapid speed in which war makes dramatic changes in a person's life makes those changes much harder to accept. Even when there is no war, people face small changes prompted by advancing time, deepening relationships, and new experiences, while some bigger changes are prompted by world shifts, new social norms, and political upheaval. Eliza knows that there will likely be a war months before that war actually begins. However, her earliest information is abstract and she really believes that war will not affect her directly. Her first clue that will not be true is seen when she learns that Jeb will be fighting for the American cause while her parents are firmly on the side of the British government. Eliza...