The message that the author is trying to send to the readers is that where there are victories in life there are also losses. In life, there are times where a person might believe that their life could not get any better than how it seems right in that moment of complete and utter happiness. There are other times, however, that a person feels as if the world is coming to an end and that there is nothing in the world to take themselves from that darkness. Throughout this second part of the novel there have been many events where the spirits of the Dutton household feel uplifted and their moral is as high as can be, but there are also tragedies that have destroyed their once jubilant spirit. As Johnny Dutton, the son of Master John and Salina Dutton, is finally put into battle, he describes his feelings about being in battle by describing, “And the vistas were breathtaking. It was as if he stood on top of the world astride his beautiful horse, riding the crest of the sky like a young sun god, Phaeton...and the earth spread before him in the low valleys like a golden brown and clay-red bordered carpet,” (216, para.…show more content… The description of the scenery, especially is during the war, is striking. Johnny seems to be in his own heaven, something that some people might not be able to find during the war. Johnny is at an all-time high in his life, in a place he has always wanted to be. Soon after this, however, Johnny gets hit in the lung with a bullet, and his life changes drastically because of it. His once extremely proud mother began to mourn the death of her beloved son, “This was big Missy’s blackest hour and she complained, ‘I feel like something has got my heart in an iron gro[ and is squeezing the very breath out of me.’,” (240, para. 4). The death of a loved one is one of the most soul crushing experiences there is. Their household was just in a happy mood, and it so quickly changed to a constant downpour of
