War is a harrowing experience to not only the soldiers who fight in the battleground but also other civilians who are adversely affected by war in different ways. In the case of the boys, we see that they suffer all kinds of loss. They lose their father, though he is not a soldier; they lose their home and are thrown into the streets; their sister becomes the victim of tuberculosis of the spine. But even these compounded problems do not break the heart of the brave boys.

They put up their resistance to war and fate in their own way. By working for the Resistance Movement, they oppose the atrocities committed by their enemies in the war. They perform the dangerous task of carrying messages to the force’s of liberation in their shoes, and they ferret out information on the German troops. Their knowledge of the hills, young age and small stature help them in their work. Thus we see that at the time of the war and after the war, the boys act with conviction.