“I looked anxiously. I didn’t see anybody… I’d keep my head up and my eyes open-`You got a smoke to spare?’” (Walters 3) In Shattered, Eric Walters hauls the reader through the life of Ian, the protagonist who experiences the joy of helping others. Throughout the white pine award novel, Ian is continually helping people around him realize that their life isn’t perfect and they ought to alter it somewhat. Furthermore, the author carefully compares the significance of family and how importance they are to everyone’s life. Right through the book, Eric Walters demonstrates the theme of compassion through the use of Ian helping Jack overcome his drinking problems, showing Berta the value of patriot and always there for the less fortunate.
All humans have their sufferings and Jack is no expectation, he has problems with drinking depression and denial. Once Ian realized this, he reassured him and tried to ease away the pain. This is shown in the book when Ian stated to Jack “It’s just that I think you should stop drinking.”(Walters 166) Ian likewise said that if Jack could stop drinkin.