The Story of Tom Brennan

The beauty of literature is its ability to teach the reader valuable lessons about the world. These lessons are relevant to life, because the themes in many books are based on reality. Although narratives are fictitious, they have been shaped using views from real life, allowing the composer to communicate important and relevant messages. Readers will respond to stories in many different ways, but through an engaging text, they will learn valuable lessons to put into practice in reality. Well-written narratives challenge their readers to reconsider society's views and their own perspectives on particular issues. The audience is positioned to understand how much a personal opinion can be based on society's views. The novel "The Story of Tom Brennan" uses the profound story of the Brennan family to encourage her teenage audience to think critically about the consequences of drink driving and rash decisions. It also offers an insight into the grieving process, demonstrating ways of dealing with adversity and emphasising that accepting support is the best way to recover from grief. Because the novel is written in such an authentic way, the audience is positioned to understand the ideas portrayed in it and how they relate to their own lives.

In 'The Story of Tom Brennan', J.C. Burke has emphasised the consequences of drinking and driving, and has communicated the impact it can have on the people directly involved in the accident and the wider community. Drink driving is becoming increasingly common in modern society and the consequences can be very difficult to deal with. Daniel is the character who takes a lot of the blame for the accident. Through his reckless behaviour, there have been two deaths and one boy who will be a paraplegic for the rest of his life, not to mention the psycological effects on all involved. This impacts upon the families of all of these people, and the whole community. Drink driving is a part of the culture in Australian urban areas, but