The Friendship War

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2019

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-7

Chapters 8-14

Chapters 15-21

Chapters 22-28

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

Buttons

Buttons play an important role throughout The Friendship War, for they are the catalyst for Grace’s character growth and her realizations about herself, Ellie, and Hank. As the school-wide obsession with buttons redraws social boundaries and affects friendships and group dynamics, Grace learns about the traits that define good friends, and she also learns that difficult truths must sometimes be voiced in order to save a friendship. Buttons therefore symbolize both internal and external conflict, and to this end, Grace’s feud with Ellie follows the natural progression of the button fad, increasing in intensity as buttons become popular, becoming more strained by disputes over special buttons, and hitting a breaking point with the destruction of the pinwheel button. Grace’s external conflict against the fad, which is truly an internal conflict with herself, is brought into the open when she nearly gets in trouble for dumping buttons in the schoolyard. This action symbolizes the universal truth that avoiding an issue only causes it to fester until it grows completely out of control.

The various buttons and the ways they are used also represent the myriad manifestations of creativity and the many forms that a trend can take. When the buttons are first introduced at Grace’s school, they are admired for their vast array of styles and shapes, and students gravitate toward the types of buttons that they most identify with in terms of appearance and importance. Soon, buttons gain significance far beyond their practical value, as seen with Ellie’s button jewelry, which elevates the acquisition of buttons to a new level of intensity. Though the jewelry is a point of contention between Ellie and Grace, the creations themselves also mark the point at which the buttons catalyze the students’ engagement with creativity. Following Ellie’s lead, other students come up with all sorts of creative ways to decorate their clothes, and later, buttons are used to invent games and to make independent pieces of art. Altogether, this creativity shows how simple things can become increasingly complex once they are put to new and innovative uses.

Grace’s Experiments

Throughout the novel, Grace conducts experiments, many of which are focused on figuring out the dynamics of the button fad. These experiments are both a symbol of who Grace is and a way for her to understand the world. Grace thrives on having active theories to pursue, both because that’s how her brain works and because those theories distract her from thinking about less positive things. For example, Grace has contemplated her changing relationship with Ellie for years, but until the time of the novel, she has never done anything about these thoughts, instead focusing on her many theories and experiments in order to avoid more uncomfortable contemplations about her friendship with Ellie. When she starts to conduct observational experiments, watching the buttons’ myriad effects on her classmates, she becomes more keenly aware of the unequal power dynamics that govern her friendship with Ellie. Thus, she is forced to see the truth of her relationship with the other girl, and the buttons act as a catalyst for Grace’s experiments involving friendship.

Grace’s theory-based way of thinking is also a message for young readers that everyone thinks and sees the world differently. Clements’s narrative style for Grace fully engages with her scientific way of thinking: an approach that helps to normalize Grace’s way of viewing the world. Instead of being shunned or ridiculed for conducting experiments or thinking differently, Grace is accepted by her friends for who she is. When Grace’s experiment-based thoughts prevent her from her gaining information or relating to others, she finds new ways to adapt her communication style, such as offering buttons to the boys on her bus in exchange for gaining answers to her questions about the fad. Altogether, Grace’s thought processes and communication style show the importance of adapting to one’s surroundings and remaining true to oneself.

The Mill

The mill that Grace’s grandpa buys is only seen once, but it has a lasting impact on Grace and on the novel as a whole. The mill is the catalyst for Grace’s changes and the source of the buttons that initiate the button fad. That school-wide interest eventually triggers Ellie’s insecurity, which in turn triggers the competition and feud between Ellie and Grace. The mill therefore represents the idea that seemingly unrelated things can spark far-reaching and unexpected changes. In Chapter 1, Grace is simply visiting her grandpa, having no idea how important her discoveries at the mill will be to her life and relationships. The things she finds there are initially for her private use, but her tendency to be a good student convinces her to share her findings for the benefit of the class. Thus, who she is (a good student and a collector of various things) leads to other students taking an interest in buttons.