Tomorrow, When the War Began.

A theme that I found important in the extended text Tomorrow, When the War Began, by John Marsden was change. Change is when people have things happen to their circumstances and are forced to think or believe differently. Change was important because it was a dominant theme in the novel as the characters – young teenagers – were forced to cope with the devastation of their lives and their environment caused by war. The theme of change is also important because it is something that affects us all at some time in our lives. We never know what the outcome will be for us, and just hope that our personal skills will make us resilient enough to cope with whatever life brings us.

We see the theme of change in the character of Homer. At the beginning of the novel we learn about Homer’s behaviour at school. He was an irresponsible, troubled youth who enjoyed being the class clown. Ellie says “He was wild and outrageous. He didn’t care what he did or what anyone thought…” Homer always seemed to be in trouble. Halfway through the novel we start to see Homer changing into the leader of the group. Ellie says “It’s hard to think that this fast-thinking guy [Homer] was once hardly even trusted to hand out the books at school.” At the end of the novel we find Homer being the commander of the group, devising plans and giving people orders. Ellie says about Homer’s latest plan to blow up a bridge in Wirrawee to stop enemy movements, “It was a high risk plan, but a brilliant one.” From start to finish in the novel Homer grows into a trusted, responsible leader who is very mature and quick thinking. This is all because of a change in Homer’s environment and circumstances. No longer can he run around and play games as he could before the war started. Therefore change was a dominant theme in the novel for the character of Homer and is relevant because change is something that effects us all at the sometime in our lives.

We also see the theme of change in the character of Ellie.