Chris Crowe had multiple purposes throughout this book. One specific purpose is to show the different views on the Vietnam War. The main character, Ashe, has an anti-war activist mom and his father on the other hand, supporting the war. Ashe’s parents don’t get along and get divorced partly because of this. Another purpose is shown with Ashe’s teacher, Mr. Ruby. Every week Mr. Ruby writes the estimated U.S deaths in Vietnam. The death toll is also written on the beginning of every chapter along with weeks spent in Vietnam during the year 1968. After 52 weeks, the death toll has climbed to staggering 16,592 estimated U.S deaths. This was only estimated because there was likely more. This book had many purposes that were meant to give the reader