In "the divine wind", Disher shows us that war does change things; in fact everything changes in one way or another. Many things become stronger, while others become weakened.
Before the war people accepted the Japanese as second-class citizens. Hart and Mitsy were friends and nothing was said. Once war broke out though, Japanese people were treated as enemies, merely there as spies and not to be trusted. Even hart lets the atmosphere of hatred get to him by calling Mitsy a "bitch" when he finds out they Alice was captured by the Japanese. Aborigines were never anything more than slaves to Australians "Most European households employed at least a gardener and a house-girl". Once war broke out many Australians believed that the aborigines would turn against them, due to the fact that Aborigines were greatly mistreated by Australians " He"ll guide the Japs through the bush in exchange for grog and tobacco it's the black with a chip on his shoulder-.
Before the war Mitsy and Hart had a strange sort of relationship, they would fight and have their times where they would not talk "I knew only that I had lost Mitsy's friendship", but when the war started Hart took Mitsy into his house and this is when their full relationship began "I knew nothing about making love- But the war changed things again, for hart became racist, bringing hate into their relationship and ending it by calling her a "bitch".
Before he war, Alice was in love with Carl, for he was a happy go lucky man who "lifted up her spirits" but it was war which showed Alice the other side of Carl. He was racist, and manipulative "A wife like that could be a liability ill make sure she isn't- he also ignored her beliefs.
Hart and Jamie were friends, although Hart envied Jamie throughout most of the book, he never showed his true feelings of it. After the war, Harts envy for Jamie becomes drastic when he contemplates leaving Jamie "I could let him drown or burn-.