The War of the Buttons

The story of a “war” between gangs of boys from two rival villages while a real war wages in the background. How does a children’s game reflect the adult world? What causes the hatred that has roots no one can remember?

The many themes of French writer Louis Pergaud‘s novel, subtitled „a novel of my twelfth year“, are still relevant today. Using the metaphor of a child‘s imaginary world full of life-and-death battles, he not only describes the situation of his time, but also, by describing the petty conflicts between the children from Longeverne and the children from Velrans, he shows the senselessness of a war determined less by generals than by ordinary human weakness. In the world of Pergaud‘s heroes, a button is worth a life. And that‘s why it‘s the greatest prize.

Through a seemingly trivial children‘s game, Pergaud presents the contradictory qualities of war that are revealed through children‘s warfare. On the one hand, the desire to defend one‘s values and sense of identity; on the other, the futility of trying to do so. It is no exaggeration to say that Pergaud‘s novel can be read as a pacifist manifesto that subverts the language of its greates enemy, the language of war.