Tomorrow When The War Began Essay
By reading we become better global citizens which open our eyes to key ideas
The novel “tomorrow when the war began” (1993) by John Marsden supports the idea ‘by reading we become better global citizens which opens our eyes to key ideas’. In this book we come across change, relationships, survival and nature.
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 main theme in the novel as the young teenage characters were forced to cope with 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 …show more content…
outcome will be for us.
We see the theme of change in the character of homer. At the beginning of the novel we learn about homers behaviour at school. He was a immature, 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 was once hardly even trusted to hand out the books at school”. At the end of the novel we find homer being commander of the group coming up with brilliant plans and giving people orders. We also see the theme of change in the character of Ellie. At the beginning of the novel we learn about Ellies life as a country girl who is a ‘tomboy’. We see the first sign of change in Ellie’s personality when they are sneaking to the showgrounds where all Warrawee’s residents have been held as prisoners. Ellie doesn’t know if she will have the courage to go into the showgrounds but she does. She says “I felt then, and i still feel now that i was transformed by those four steps at that moment i stopped being an innocent rural teenager and started becoming someone else a more complicated and capable person. A force to be reckoned with not just a polite obedient kid.” From this example we can see that the theme of change was important to John Marsdens development of the character of Ellie in his novel tomorrow when the war began.
There are massive changed to their small town Wirrawee. At the beginning of the novel we see Wirrawee as a town where it seemed like nothing bad had ever happened. Now things were being blown up. We see evidence of change to wirawee when robyn is telling ellie about the condition of Lees restaurant “the place is a mess, windows broken, table and chairs smashed. From this example we can clearly see that the town of wirrawee has undergone a massive amount of change going from a nice peace place to a hell of devastation.
In conclusion the theme of change was very important in the novel by john. We see it in action through the character development of Homer and Ellie who were forced to respond to the devastating change of their town Wirrawee. Change is also an important and interesting theme because it is something that occurs to all of us at one time in our lives.
The theme relationship was a very important theme in the novel. Relationships were developing every passing day for them, whether they could see it happening or not. They all had a good relationship with each other and knew each other well having spent so much time together. Ellie and Homer were the closest of them all because they grew up on farms next door to each other and formed a brother sister relationship. Ellie felt a protective sense over her friends and feared the war because she didn’t want to lose any of them “My feat came from love, love for my friends”. Throughout the book Ellie developed strong feelings for Lee she told him how she felt and he felt the same about her. Ellie says “he’s like two people his shy with me but confident when his in a group”
The characters learn from the situation of being trapped in a war that love for their friends is more powerful than any other feelings.
In the book at stages Ellie tries to convince herself that she doesn’t have feelings for Lee but when she sits down to think about it she realises she was just trying to hide her feelings because she was scared of being hurt. By this the reader is encouraged to consider that relationships are still important no matter what you’re going though and that even if you try and cover up your feelings you know in your heart that they are still there.
John Marsden shows the theme of survival all throughout the book. My first example is when they first realise that they have been invaded and they sneak around the streets collecting food from houses for supplies not knowing how long they would have to stay in hiding. Sneaking around the streets at night in their own hometown wasn’t what they were used to as Ellie quoted “that was the kind of world we were used to we ever seriously thought it would change”.
The characters learn that this is their new life, it could be days, months or even years before everything goes back to the way it used to be. They also learn that if they're going to survive the invasion then they're going to have to do whatever is takes to do so, even if it means having to kill soldiers. The reader is encouraged to consider that when in a situation like the characters in the book are that you have to do anything in order to
survive.
One of the most important themes throughout this novel is Nature. Nature plays a huge part in the novel because nature becomes their home. When they were at hell Ellie quoted “its a wild place” but she didn’t mean its scary or horrible she meant it was adventurous, beautiful. Before the war they didn’t really notice how important nature is because they were too busy doing other things. When they stopped and realise how much they have to lose they notice what a beautiful place it is and becomes their safe haven. Nature is a very important theme throughout this book because it relates to everyday humans and is trying to show us to love everything around us and appreciate it because within seconds it can all be taken away from us with nothing left.
John Marsden has written a great, adventurous, suspenseful story that shows different themes that the reader can try to apply to their own life and change their view pm certain things. Change was one of the main themes that stood out to me in the book. It made me realise to accept everything and always be prepared for the worst. Another theme that really stood out for me was relationships i know that the books fictional but it still in a sense amazed me at how close they were and how Ellie and Lee were able to keep a strong relationship most of the time while the war was going on.
Leadership was one of the main themes that stood out to me in the book. It made me realise that even though sometimes when you don't want to be the leader that it's good to stand up and take the lead like Ellie and Homer did in most situations. Another theme that stood out to me was relationships. I know that the book was fictional but it still in a sense amazed me at how close they were and how Ellie and Lee were able to keep a strong relationship most of the time while the war was going on. The theme that stood out to me most in the book was survival. It was pretty unrealistic how they kept surviving almost every situation but it was good to keep the suspense of whether they would live or not anyway. It amazed me how much they fought to save their lives when before the war everything they've done they would have only ever read about it a book. Do i think by By reading we become better global citizens which open our eyes to key ideas yes i do.
The novel “tomorrow when the war began” (1993) by John Marsden supports the idea ‘by reading we become better global citizens which opens our eyes to key ideas’. In this book we come across change, relationships, survival and nature.
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 main theme in the novel as the young teenage characters were forced to cope with 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 …show more content…
outcome will be for us.
We see the theme of change in the character of homer. At the beginning of the novel we learn about homers behaviour at school. He was a immature, 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 was once hardly even trusted to hand out the books at school”. At the end of the novel we find homer being commander of the group coming up with brilliant plans and giving people orders. We also see the theme of change in the character of Ellie. At the beginning of the novel we learn about Ellies life as a country girl who is a ‘tomboy’. We see the first sign of change in Ellie’s personality when they are sneaking to the showgrounds where all Warrawee’s residents have been held as prisoners. Ellie doesn’t know if she will have the courage to go into the showgrounds but she does. She says “I felt then, and i still feel now that i was transformed by those four steps at that moment i stopped being an innocent rural teenager and started becoming someone else a more complicated and capable person. A force to be reckoned with not just a polite obedient kid.” From this example we can see that the theme of change was important to John Marsdens development of the character of Ellie in his novel tomorrow when the war began.
There are massive changed to their small town Wirrawee. At the beginning of the novel we see Wirrawee as a town where it seemed like nothing bad had ever happened. Now things were being blown up. We see evidence of change to wirawee when robyn is telling ellie about the condition of Lees restaurant “the place is a mess, windows broken, table and chairs smashed. From this example we can clearly see that the town of wirrawee has undergone a massive amount of change going from a nice peace place to a hell of devastation.
In conclusion the theme of change was very important in the novel by john. We see it in action through the character development of Homer and Ellie who were forced to respond to the devastating change of their town Wirrawee. Change is also an important and interesting theme because it is something that occurs to all of us at one time in our lives.
The theme relationship was a very important theme in the novel. Relationships were developing every passing day for them, whether they could see it happening or not. They all had a good relationship with each other and knew each other well having spent so much time together. Ellie and Homer were the closest of them all because they grew up on farms next door to each other and formed a brother sister relationship. Ellie felt a protective sense over her friends and feared the war because she didn’t want to lose any of them “My feat came from love, love for my friends”. Throughout the book Ellie developed strong feelings for Lee she told him how she felt and he felt the same about her. Ellie says “he’s like two people his shy with me but confident when his in a group”
The characters learn from the situation of being trapped in a war that love for their friends is more powerful than any other feelings.
In the book at stages Ellie tries to convince herself that she doesn’t have feelings for Lee but when she sits down to think about it she realises she was just trying to hide her feelings because she was scared of being hurt. By this the reader is encouraged to consider that relationships are still important no matter what you’re going though and that even if you try and cover up your feelings you know in your heart that they are still there.
John Marsden shows the theme of survival all throughout the book. My first example is when they first realise that they have been invaded and they sneak around the streets collecting food from houses for supplies not knowing how long they would have to stay in hiding. Sneaking around the streets at night in their own hometown wasn’t what they were used to as Ellie quoted “that was the kind of world we were used to we ever seriously thought it would change”.
The characters learn that this is their new life, it could be days, months or even years before everything goes back to the way it used to be. They also learn that if they're going to survive the invasion then they're going to have to do whatever is takes to do so, even if it means having to kill soldiers. The reader is encouraged to consider that when in a situation like the characters in the book are that you have to do anything in order to
survive.
One of the most important themes throughout this novel is Nature. Nature plays a huge part in the novel because nature becomes their home. When they were at hell Ellie quoted “its a wild place” but she didn’t mean its scary or horrible she meant it was adventurous, beautiful. Before the war they didn’t really notice how important nature is because they were too busy doing other things. When they stopped and realise how much they have to lose they notice what a beautiful place it is and becomes their safe haven. Nature is a very important theme throughout this book because it relates to everyday humans and is trying to show us to love everything around us and appreciate it because within seconds it can all be taken away from us with nothing left.
John Marsden has written a great, adventurous, suspenseful story that shows different themes that the reader can try to apply to their own life and change their view pm certain things. Change was one of the main themes that stood out to me in the book. It made me realise to accept everything and always be prepared for the worst. Another theme that really stood out for me was relationships i know that the books fictional but it still in a sense amazed me at how close they were and how Ellie and Lee were able to keep a strong relationship most of the time while the war was going on.
Leadership was one of the main themes that stood out to me in the book. It made me realise that even though sometimes when you don't want to be the leader that it's good to stand up and take the lead like Ellie and Homer did in most situations. Another theme that stood out to me was relationships. I know that the book was fictional but it still in a sense amazed me at how close they were and how Ellie and Lee were able to keep a strong relationship most of the time while the war was going on. The theme that stood out to me most in the book was survival. It was pretty unrealistic how they kept surviving almost every situation but it was good to keep the suspense of whether they would live or not anyway. It amazed me how much they fought to save their lives when before the war everything they've done they would have only ever read about it a book. Do i think by By reading we become better global citizens which open our eyes to key ideas yes i do.