The main theme of Petros'War is war, as the title itself emphasizes, and its influence on the characters' personalities. The details regarding the Nazi occupation are visible in the background and make up a fundamental element of the novel as is only logical, yet the most important element is that of the ramifications of the occupation on the characters. Zei shifts emphasis from what occurred in the war, to how people reacted and survived. One sees, for example, the changes in both adults and children as the war develops. Although at first, it seems that the adult characters become strange and weak yet the children become stronger, Petros' War 317 the reader witnesses the truth of the matter as the plot progresses: although Petros's mother seems aloof and curiously uninterested in the war, she finally shows her strength when she hides an Italian soldier in...