Tomorrow When The War Began Quotes

e war beA character whom I found interesting In “Tomorrow When the War Began” by John Marsden is Ellie Linton, the narrator, the ‘voice’ and the protagonist of the novel. The novel, Ellie has been through many morals of life, which changes the way she thinks and acts, making her become very philosophical. The way she reacts to her feelings towards Homer and Lee also appealed to me. The themes of survival, loyalty and courage are shown in the actions of Ellie, which contributes to making Ellie Linton an interesting character.
In “Tomorrow When the War Began”, Ellie Linton’s character changes significantly from an innocent, ‘typical teenager’ to someone who “stopped being an innocent rural teenager and started becoming someone else, a more
complicated capable person, a force to be reckoned with even, not just a polite obedient kid.” During the invasion, Elli’s mind matures significantly as her friends reveal what they are truly capable of, and she begins to see them differently. Robyn, who “had been on the floor as soon as he’d mentioned the word injections”, now finds blood fascinating, and Fi, despite the horror of the war stays with Ellie and fights. Ellie also becomes philosophical, and appears to have gained a lot of knowledge from her experience during the war. She begins to fear that “all the violent things she’d been doing with the ride-on mower and the truck, had turned me in the space of a couple of nights into a raging monster”, and “felt that her life was permanently damaged, that she could never be normal again”. Ellie’s mental changes make her interesting because she reflects in her actions, and decides whether it was for good or bad, and is able to judge people from their actions too.
Another point that makes Ellie an interesting character is the actions and decisions she makes, which link to the themes of survival, loyalty and courage, because they are the three main ideas of the novel, showing parts of Ellie’s character.
An important action of Ellie was when she blows up a lawnmower and kills three soldiers in order to escape from Mrs Alexander’s garden, which shows the theme of courage, because even though she was reluctant to, Ellie was forced herself to kill them to ensure her and her friend’s safety. The theme of survival is also presented when Ellie think back to when she killed the soldiers – “Had I killed out of love of my friends, as part of a noble crusade to rescue friends and family and keep our land free? Or had I killed because I valued my life above that of others?” Ellie learns that is they were to survive this war, they would have to do anything it takes - even if it meant having to kill soldiers. Loyalty is a theme that is prevalent throughout all the characters in the novel, but Ellie in particular shows this theme the most. Ellie presents this theme by not abandoning Robyn and Lee when they didn’t show up at the allocated place they were meant to meet up at. Although they had to leave first, Ellie still went back to find them. The ways these themes are presented by Ellie are interesting because it shows many aspects of Ellie’s character and personality at the same
time.
Ellie’s ‘romantic’ relationship with Lee and her sibling-like relationship with Homer makes her interesting because she behaves in a different way when she is with them. She “had spent all our free time together when we were little, and we were still close”. when Homer takes the role of leading the group, Ellie sees him in a new light; someone who is responsible, fun and a good leader, someone she could trust, to the point when she was “jealous of losing him “to Fi, which makes it interesting to know how Ellie acts with Homer. She also has a romantic relationship with Lee, which starts when they go to Hell, and their retreat to Hell during the invasion. The voice over of Ellie tells us more about her feelings towards Lee, and says “what drew me to Lee was his mind, his intelligent, sensitive face, and the security that I felt with him. But beneath Lee’s calm exterior I’d found someone deeply passionate.”, which is interesting, because it shows Ellie has become so close to Lee, despite their arguments and the confusion of Ellie’s feelings.
Ellie Linton is truly a significant and interesting character who has been through many realisations of her friends and become more aware of the people around her (such as Robyn and Fi) and forming new types of relationships and strengthening bonds with Lee and Homer. The themes of loyalty, courage and survival are viewed by the actions of Ellie, changing her, and making her such an interesting character in “Tomorrow When the War Began” by John Marsden.