Passion for Life

One overriding theme of the novel is the passion for life. Jacques shows an incredible passion for life from his childhood into his adulthood. For example, as a child, Jacques wants to experience everything in the world and as much as possible. This is despite the fact he lives in poverty. At school, he plays soccer wholeheartedly and loves every second of it. He also studies very hard, and in fact, cries in class due to incredible emotion as his teacher reads the students a war novel. With his friends, he plays passionately in every game they invent or choose to play. He devours books and reads them with great fervor. He loves his family with intense feelings.

As an adult, Jacques has passion for finding his father's memory, including going on an endless search in two countries, France and Algeria, to find information about him...