During this dark period Tom does not change, or mature. Tom’s Father orders Tom to make a change to his life and encourages him to take the path towards a positive future and to move on from the past into the future. Tom’s isolation from the world is captured negatively through the use of ersonification, he quotes “ I curled myself into a little ball, hid my head in my knees and let the darkness suck me into its belly” this indicates how badly tom has been affected by the absence of others who he truly had a deep connection with. Tom becomes more open with the accident throughout the book as he starts to go and visit Fin and Daniel, Tom also builds up a better relationship with his uncle Brendan as they start to go and run together and Brendan tells Tom that him and Jonny are together in a relationship, as he quotes “ I mean, you know Jonny and I are – together? this shows Brendan is trying to build a friendship with him. Tom and his grandmother begin to become closer by the end of the book, he quotes “ at least she likes watching the footy show. We’d have a good laugh over that. Sometimes she wasn’t too bad”. All these changes by the end of the book doesn’t just show that tom is now moving on from the past and moving forward in life, not just with his family but also with Chrissy, who he shares a relationship with.
Similarly, in the book “ Doll” by Nicky Singer, the main character Tilly has gone through series of personal challenges to get through her depression. Obstacles with her teenage years include being an outcast at school and having no friends, having an over-weight, strange mother and distant father figure in her life. Before her suicide, Tilly’s mother made her a pocket-sized doll which she took with her everywhere as she saw the doll as the only friend she had.
Throughout the book Tilly is faced with challenges and over time she becomes reliant on the doll as her only friend. The doll speaks to her and she follows its rules. When Tilly is working at her father’s work she has to take drinks out to a table where a girl is sitting that goes to her school she is scared but her doll says to her “ you can do it, Tilly trust me” By the end of the book Tilly is beginning to realise that she needs to take over her life and do what she wants. She rips the doll to pieces and starts making her own choices and decisions.
This proves to be the right thing to do as she meets a friend Jan and begins to face the world and its challenges. ‘ The Story of Tom Brennan’ weaves the past into the present, a sense of Tom’s loss never being far away. He loves his brother regardless of what he did that night and is glad his brother lived. But at the same as Daniel, Tom needs a ticket out of the past and during his journey he finds it in many ways. It’s a story about family love and loss, secrets and revelations and making sense of a past that once Tom had thought was perfect. Thank you for listening.