"Everything changed. The past would not hold and could not be held." The idea of change and transition stresses the notion of Jim's that "Nothing counted." There was no use in giving things permanency (as he does through names), because in the end, they would all disappear or be replaced with something else.
The sense of this ongoing natural cycle of which change and rebirth are vital components, emerges again in the concluding pages of the book. As Imogen stands on the beach grieving, she contemplates the lone surfer braving the elements far off in the distance. "...the balance, the still dancing on the surface, the brief etching of his body against the sky at the very moment, on the waves lip, when he would slide into its hollows and fall." Here we see a new innovation surfacing, factual evidence that life is ever-changing and perpetual. In this brief second, Imogen realises that time will eventually bring the soldiers into the arms of their 'warm mother'. As one door closes, another opens, thus continues the cycle of life.
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