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Tomorrow when the war began essay

The Narrative Tomorrow When The War Began, a popular text by John Marsden relates to today??™s society though the use of common themes. Leadership is shown through the character Homer in the novel which relates to our contemporary world of leadership such as the American government. Survival is a key theme demonstrated by the characters and the settings. Survival has recently been demonstrated in the Hudson River plane crash. Relationships are demonstrated between every character in the novel. As the setting changes so do the characters relationships between each other, they become stronger. This relates to the families that were victims in the recent Victorian bushfires. Morality in war is shown in the novel through the characters adapting to being a part of war and not everyday simple life.

An example of the this in real life is when soldiers in the Iraq war have to kill people to save themselves and their countries. Maturity is demonstrated in the novel when Homer changes because of the situation he is in. This happens commonly in our contemporary life when families loose a parent and older siblings are forced to take the place of a parental figure. These themes relate to our everyday society by the actions of the main characters and how the settings influence how the characters act. The characters relationship change in the novel as events that occur bring them closer, this relates to the relationships of couples and families that were victims of the Victorian bushfires. In the novel at the beginning when the teenagers come back from their camping trip we see how the characters differ and find it hard to get along.

????????¦of course it??™s bad,??™? I yelled at her. ??? Do you think my dad would leave his dogs to die like that Do you think I??™ll be having a good laugh at that tomorrow I was screaming and crying at the same time.??™??¦. ??? Robyn started crying and yelling??¦.??™(pg 64) But by the end of the novel all the characters have put their differences aside and can get along.

??? We??™ve got to stick together, that??™s all I know. We all drive each other crazy at times but I don??™t want to end up here alone.??™(284) ? Relationships in this novel associate well with the one of the couples and families that were victims in the Victorian bush fires. A 56 year old woman was a victim of the bush fires, she was stuck inside her car, all she could remember was her body being numb and she was without her husband. Mean while her husband outside the car among the flames was wondering if his wife was still alive, the time they spent wondering whether they were alive was the time the realized how much they loved and needed each other.

Soon after the strength they both used to get out of the fire, they both met again. Now there relationship is better than ever and they realize how much they need each other.? Morality in war is a major theme in this novel, the teenagers were forced to quickly adapt to the ways of war and become familiar with the custom behaviours that war involves. This relates to the morality of the Iraq war, in which the American and Australian soldiers had to adapt. An example from the novel is when the teenagers have to kill the soldiers by blowing up the lawn mower, ?????¦were dead, and it??™s all my fault ??¦then the petrol lit with a quiet quick whoosh??¦a small orange fire ball ripped up into the darkness??¦the screams from behind us were ripping the night apart.

??™ (page 90, 91) the characters had never witnessed something quite like this, killing had never been a part of their daily lives, but this was all about to change, this is what they have to do to stay alive. The soldiers in the Iraq war have been constantly fighting through the year since 2003, they fight to not only save themselves but mainly to save their country America and Australia. All of the bombings and terrorist attacks have put the western countries at risk which forces us to save ourselves and fight back, much like from the novel, the soldiers forced the teenagers to fight back, even if this was not initially as part of their will, it changed to save themselves.

? The characters in the novel are faced with life and death situations, this forced Homer to stand up and take action on leading the group. This has similarity to the American leader president George Bush choosing to fight in the Iraq war. At the beginning of the novel Homer comes across as being immature and a trouble maker. But when trouble strikes him Homer is then forced to take action and it he becomes the leader of the group.

Ellie had never really looked at Homer that way but she soon realizes what she had been doing. “ It was the same with Homer, the way for all those years hed been hanging a big sign around his neck, and like a fool Id kept reading it.”(Page 44). Homer takes action on leading the group; suddenly a different side of him comes out.

“ He leaned forward.??™Heres what I suggest. They load Corries Toyota with everything useful they can find. Then they go to Kevins and do the same. And to my place and Ellies if theres time. They pick up the Land Rover at Kevins and fill it too.

Im talking food, clothes, petrol, rifles, tools, everything. By dawn we want to have two vehicles fuelled up, packed to their roofs and ready to go? ? ? ?  To go where Kevin asked.? ? ? ?  To Hell Homer answered.? ? ? ?  That was Homers genius. He combined action with thought, and he planned ahead. He sensed, I think, that inaction was our enemy.

Anyone seeing us at that moment would not have thought we were in the most desperate positions of our lives. We were all sitting up excitedly, faces flushed and eyes gleaming. We had things to do, positive definite things. It suddenly seemed so obvious that if we had a future, it would be in Hell. And we began to realise that there might still be a life for us.” Its leaders like these that we have and are needed to lead us in war. Homer shows many of the same qualities as president Bush of America, making the decision for America to fight in the war. Though in the novel and real life many people will have disputes against leaders, the good leaders will make the right decisions.

? Homer shows a great deal of maturity throughout the novel. In the beginning of the book, he is shown as a loud, wild and immature boy. In his teenage years Homer sees the need to hide who he really is.

He put himself out as a irrespective, insensitive, uncaring boy but when serious problems come up in the novel Homer has to drop his act of pretending and show who he really is, a mature leader who is able to inspire and encourage others. Soon enough he amazes everyone with his mature approach. ??? Robyn- ??? Homer are you onto something?????? Sorry?????? You keep going like this, you??™ll lose your reputation, aren??™t you meant to be just a wild, crazy guy??? He laughed, but then went straight back to being serious??? (John Marsden, Tomorrow When The War Began pg 138)The examples of maturity shown in the novel Tomorrow When The War Began are similar to events that happen in our contemporary world. Many change and become mature throughout their lives to solve their problems and to get themselves through hard situations. The example from the novel relates to orphans in Ukraine.

State run institutions are not in a position to prepare children for successful adulthood. Children have few, if any opportunities to develop skills necessary to move back into society. These children have to mature quite quickly because when they are out of these orphanages they have to make important decisions to re-enter the real world entirely alone. The challenges faced by most newly released orphans are food and shelter, poor primary school education, no work skills and few life skills, no support system and the stigma of being an orphan.??? Forced labour, sexual slavery or a life in the streets leading to crime, prostitution, alcohol and drug abuse is the destiny of most of these young people??? (http://www. havenbri. dge. org/orphans.

html).? The Hudson plane crash occurred on January 15, 2009. A United States plane with 155 people on board ditched into the Hudson River. The people in this plane were very lucky to survive and could have easily lost their lives. ?????¦This is something you really can??™t prepare for??¦ You really don??™t practice water landings in commercial planes.

Just the sheer expertise he demonstrates is amazing???, said by Denny Walsh. The people on board worked together to get through the landing. In the novel survival is a big theme as the characters are alone with nothing but themselves and the few essentials. All of them had to work together to come up with strategies. The characters split in groups in order to survive. one group attacks to protect while the other group scavenges. Teamwork was a big asset to survival because without help it is hard to survive. In Tomorrow When The War Began the characters are faces with many obstacles that they have to confront and use their heads to help get themselves out of the situation.

“ Homer came to join us.??™Leave him, he said briskly. I was about to interrupt, to protest strongly, but Homer went straight on. He hasnt got a rifle. We could waste a week looking and still not find him. Wed be better off to get Fi and the ferals and join up with Kevin and Ryan again. In the long term thats the only way to go.

??? As so often happened, Homer had seen the problem clearly and figured out the solution. Well, maybe not the solution, but the best plan.” (pg 24)In the novel Tomorrow When The War Began many issues that are raised are very similar to modern society. This is used through themes such as survival, morality in war, relationships and maturity. All of these themes have relevant issues regarding them in the novel and also in society.

As shown above John Marsden had written this novel to relate to how some people live and how they may have to change or adapt their lifestyles in order to survive. He also shows us how important relationships and maturity is in everyday living as this helps human beings to become stronger and to make decisions for the better. The main theme of this novel is morality in war which is shown a lot throughout the book and in society and war goes on in many countries in the world and many people??™s lives change because of it. When your whole world comes crashing down, you have to adapt like Ellie and Homer and the other characters to get out of there alive. Tomorrow when the war began is a thrilling novel that depicts the sheer courage and determinacy of the human race. By Caitlin Freese and Emily Greenway

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