Tomorrow when the War Began, by John Marsden, Is a book of love, war, friendship, and courage. 7 teenagers whose small rural town has been invaded, help one another to overcome difficulties in tough situations.
Throughout the book the Arthur has shown the tactics the teenagers use to outsmart their enemy. They are able to do this by their local knowledge of their town and their motivation to keep their friends and family safe. This essay will demonstrate how each character copes with adversity differently but still works as a team to safe their family and their town of Wirrawee.
In the novel Ellie lives in a small rural town. Ellie is faced with difficult situations where she is required to make decisions for the safety of herself, family and friends. At the start of the invasion Ellie has to make a significant choice to blow up a lawn mower to protect her friends from the intruders. “Their dead and it’s all my fault”, this emotive statement lets the readers know how important this decision was to her and how it affects her mental health.
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After the group of friends start to head home, they stop along the way for a swim to cool off. Ellie feels suspicious about the planes she seen the night before and is anxious to get home to make sure everything is ok. In the book Ellie lets the readers know that she’s feeling quite edgy.
Ellie is hoping the friends will make their way up to the car soon. She tells lee “I wish they’d get a move on I’m really keen to get home”. This direct dialogue demonstrates the concern Ellie has for her family back home. These situations that Ellie is faced with shows the coping strategies Ellie uses to overcome adversity.
At the beginning of the book Homer was known to be the class clown. With this reputation many people found it hard to take him seriously. When the war began, we see change of personality in homer. Homer who was known to be a wild child takes a serious approach to the war and undertakes logical plans to look out for his friends and family. “If we ever did get back to school, I’d nominate him as School Captain”.
The author has added this statement made by one of Homers friends in the book to demonstrate the leadership role homer took on during the war. Not only did homer show courage and strength throughout the book we also see an emotional change.
When they go on camp Homer opens up to Ellie about his feelings about Fi. “What do you think of Fi” Ellie was taken by surprise by this statement, this is the first-time homer has ever opened up about a girl. Homer overcomes adversity by seeking comfort in Fi and uses his bravery and courage to create logical plans.
Lee was an outsider who hadn’t had much to do with the friend group, until Ellie invites him to the camping trip to Hell. Ellie finds Lee interesting; they show attraction to one another early on in the book, this chemistry grows as they spend more time together and are faced with difficult situations. Lee has no trouble finding his place in the group. In the book, Lee is known to be Ellie’s love interest.
He isn’t one to hide his feeling and opinions. He was very persistent in expressing his feeling for Ellie throughout the novel. With Lee being opinionated and able to express his feeling we are able to understand the deep emotion felt by lee when he finds out how his mother had been hurt We see lee cope with these difficulties by wanting to seek revenge, however, lee was unable to bring himself to it.
The essay above shows how 3 main characters in the book, Ellie, Homer, and Lee, rely on different things and use different coping strategies to overcome adversity.
References
- Tomorrow when the War Began – Goodreads
- John Marsden Official Website
- Tomorrow when the War Began – Amazon
- Review: ‘Tomorrow When the War Began’ by John Marsden – ABC Arts
- Talking Difference Podcast: John Marsden (Author and Founder of Candlebark School) – AMRC
- Tomorrow, When the War Began (Film) – Wikipedia
