The Friendship War

These opening chapters are primarily devoted to exposition that introduces the main relationship between Grace and Ellie, as well as the growing interest in buttons that will soon dominate the central plot of the novel. In many ways, Grace and Ellie stand as foils to one another. Grace thinks of the world scientifically and likes to find concrete reasons for everything that happens. When she cannot do this, it makes her nervous, and she copes with this emotion by retreating into herself. As a result, she is shy and unassuming, and Ellie has both intentionally and unintentionally taken advantage of these qualities. In a sharp contrast to Grace, Ellie is outgoing and has a magnetic personality that she uses to get what she wants, often becoming annoyed when things don’t go her way. Grace and Ellie are very different people, and their friendship proves that differences are not always a sign of incompatibility. Their relationship is strained during the events of the novel, but it has not always been that way, and their differences have not always impeded their friendship. Throughout the novel, Clements explores various aspects of their relationship in terms of the book’s major themes, including Small Things That Bring Big Changes and Power in Relationships.

The buttons also represent Small Things That Bring Big Changes. In Chapter 1, Grace’s solo discovery of the buttons brings about little change, for she already collects many odd things. However, when her propensity to collect things collides with the rest of her life through her history class, the buttons transform from oddments that Grace collects to a fad with much wider consequences than she ever could have imagined. In this first part of the book, the buttons have not yet precipitated the frenzy that will soon consume the feverish attention of Grace and her classmates. In Chapters 5 and 7, the buttons are still new and exciting, and the full range of their possibilities in this energetic social setting has yet to be explored. For Grace and the others, buttons have always been a fact of life that they never really thought about, but upon considering the sheer variety and enormity of the roles that buttons have played across the world, these seemingly innocuous things gain new meaning for the students, reinforcing the theme of Small Things That Bring Big Changes. Grace and Ellie’s buttons also show how simple objects can make people feel connected to a larger idea or emotion, for both girls have specific buttons that they associate with their grandfathers, and while those buttons elicit emotional responses, all the other buttons do not, for regardless of whether they are plain or ornate, they are not imbued with history and emotions like the sentimental buttons are.

The buttons also provide the catalyst for Grace’s honest examination of her friendship with Ellie, a factor that further illustrates the themes of Small Things That Bring Big Changes and Power in Relationships. Middle school often marks a significant chapter of an adolescent’s development, for many previously unexamined issues rise to the forefront and must be reevaluated. For this reason, Grace begins to notice many aspects of her friendship with Ellie that have always bothered her. In Chapter 2, for example, Grace notes that Ellie’s quirks have upset her many times over the years, but each summer, the time that the girls spend apart gave Grace enough space and perspective to forget about the negative effects that Ellie had on her.

With the introduction of the buttons, however, Grace has ample evidence to observe and associate with Ellie’s behavior, and this evaluative process appeals to Grace’s scientific way of thinking. Ellie’s drive to show off and prove to everyone that she has the most unique and impressive buttons makes it clear that she wants to be seen as better than others, regardless of who she has to hurt to achieve this goal. This realization makes Grace feel as though Ellie takes her for granted and only spends time with her because doing so somehow affords Ellie additional status. However, the moment in which Ellie gets emotional about her grandfather’s buttons reminds for Grace that, while Ellie has many undesirable qualities, she is still a person who experiences sadness and vulnerability. Knowing this ultimately lets the girls remain friends at the end of the book, and forgetting this is what allows the feud between them to grow so toxic and cruel in the meantime.

Grace’s grandpa does not appear much in the story, but her relationship with him and her emotions about the death of her grandmother last year offer important context to the buttons, to Grace’s character arc, and to the ongoing theme asserting that Nothing Lasts Forever. Grace’s grandpa begins the book with an attitude of hope, for with the purchase of the old mill, he is starting to rebuild his life and find a new purpose. Grace’s discovery of the buttons in the mill he bought represents the transformative effect that the buttons have on her, as well as implying that her presence plays an important part in helping her grandpa to truly start moving forward after his wife’s death. Emphasizing the reality that Nothing Lasts Forever, the novel explores how grief, much like obsession, keeps people stagnant. While the students at Grace’s school remain obsessed with trading buttons, they are stuck in the grasping mindset of button-trading, looking only for their next big acquisition and letting the buttons distract them from more important things. When the button fad eventually passes, the kids still trade buttons on a less frenzied scale, and this transition shares similarities to Grace and her grandpa’s methods of dealing with their grief. Grief often keeps people from observing the world around them and prevents them from fully experiencing life. In another sense, Grace also experiences grief over what she believes is her deteriorating relationship with Ellie, and this emotion contributes to the intensity of the girls’ fight.