Character Analysis
When Acton's dog, Jinn, dies, he's devastated. We're talking sobbing in the streets upset. Why? Check out how he puts it:
All his, because Mam was dead with his birth, and Da was never coming back. And though he had lain there on that bed, feeling as if he were dying inside for wanting Da, he had not wept for him either. (3.102)
You guys—this is pretty wrenching stuff, right? Acton's all alone in the world without Jinn, and there's nothing he can do about it. As much as the story focuses on what it is like for Cam both during and after the war, it also shows us what happens to those left behind—and Acton is one of the characters who shows us this. Sometimes being the only one left is just as hard as fighting, and through Acton's story we see the repercussions of war for those who lose people.