So Much to Tell You - John Marsden

So Much to Tell You by John Marsden, explores the struggle that the protagonist, Marina, endures along her journey to mental wholeness. Marina’s soul has been shattered due to a traumatic event, and being witness to a large amount of violence and hatred in her family. So Much To Tell You is rich in techniques that are used effectively to convey the idea of Marina’s struggle, and journey towards mental wholeness.
Marina’s difficulty in achieving psychological completion is shown through the major technique, structural contrast. We follow Marina’s personal journey and her healing throughout the novel, and we watch as she develops from an introverted, mistrustful person into someone who is able to appropriately communicate with other individuals. Marina uses a tone of self-loathing to show us that she views herself as a “nutcase”, psycho” and “the freak of Warrington” who suffers from “anorexia of speech”. Marina is sent to Warrington Boarding School “to learn to speak again, because [her] mother can’t stand [her] silent presence at home”. At first Marina is isolated and detached from the rest of the school, shown through the retreat imagery of Marina as she “slinks along the walls and corridors”. As the novel progresses, Marina’s entries suggest that she is becoming more in touch with her peers, and “moving round the school more confidently”. Her visit to Mr Lindells house over the weekend is a very significant event in Marina’s transformation. Throughout the weekend she becomes more expressive, expressed through her tone of excitement in the phrase “it was good! And they’re so nice! Nice, nice, nice”! Here, the use of exclamation and the repetition of the word, ‘nice’ emphasise Marina’s positive involvement in life. This is contrasted with Marina being a passive spectator during school tennis, and life in general. Towards the end of the novel Marina chooses on her own accord to return to Warrington, and reaches out to Mr Lindell to help her, a drastic change from