Connor

Tomorrow, when the war began

Task One

 * 1) 1. Homer puts forward three options in which the group could choose, to try and rescue their families, which would mean going right into the base of the enemy, inflict damage on the invading country, or sit tight and try to stay alive. All three options have their benefits and also their dangers. Rescuing the families from the camp they are kept, would mean having to go straight into the enemy’s territory and running the risk of either being caught or killed. They would be of no use to their families if they got caught. The chance of getting even one of the characters families out, let alone all of them is extremely small. Personally I think I would cut this option out. Lying low would be a great idea in the short term, but if the invaders started to gain more and more power, food will run out, which will eventually force them to go out of hiding and get food which would again mean running the risk of getting caught. Attacking the enemy would have huge risks but also a huge benefit. Personally I would go for this option because even though the risks are big, the enemy could be affected in a big way.
 * 2) 2. In the bridge explosion, Ellie is relieved that she has probably not killed anyone. She understands that she needed to ‘do what was necessary’ and that it was only luck that resulted in no one being killed. Murder in war is a bit like self-defence. If somebody is attacking, instinctively you fight back. In a way it is the same in war, you have to ‘do what is necessary’. Killing in war is inevitable, it’ll always happen no matter what. Although murder is a horrible thing, in war I don’t think it is ‘wrong’ it’s just something that you are forced into doing.
 * 3) 3. Not to treat corrie would be inhumane, but in the enemy’s eyes, her country is the one who they have to defeat and by not treating her they would get some form of justice. If I was fighting a war and there was a soldier who needed help and who would die otherwise, although it sounds terrible, I wouldn’t help them because it is war and I would not help the enemy.
 * 4) 4. Robyn could understand why the ‘enemy’ invaded. She claimed that they were ‘addressing the imbalances between the two countries’. There are great differences between the two countries in the book. There is Australia, who earned the wealth and the power, and there is the other country, who wants to steal that. Australia deserves the wealth because they earned it. If I were the other country, living in poverty and having no power, then I would invade as well even though my country didn’t deserve it.

Task Two

 * 1) 1. In John Marsden’s //Tomorrow, When the War Began//, all of the characters play at least one important role. They all show different types of leadership and courage which they express in different ways. When the war started, they all had to help each other and work together. Obviously Ellie, who is the narrator, is one of the more important leaders and also homer who puts forward ingenious ideas which the group benefit on. Blowing up the bridge needed huge courage on every body’s part.
 * 2) 2. Every single one of the characters shows immense courage in lots of ways. They all do things that require a lot of courage. Robyn showed courage when she had to carry lee, Ellie showed initiative when she blew up the lawnmower, saving corrie, Kevin and herself in the process. Kevin had courage when he decided to give himself up to save corrie. All of these characters show remarkable courage in different situations.
 * 3) 3. There were different types of relationships and friendships during the book. Ellie was always confused with her feelings for both Lee and Homer. After she saved Lee when he got shot, he was ‘pressuring’ Ellie into going out with him and reinforcing the idea with the kiss that happened earlier in the book. After this, they had a fight which created tension between the two of them which also made the group become tense. Corrie and Kevin are obviously in a devoted relationship. Kevin gives himself up to take her to the hospital and try to save her from dying. The whole group are loyal friends and the war helped them to become closer.

Task Three

 * 1) 1. Ellie is quite a reliable narrator because she doesn’t gloss over anything. She tells only the truth. Ellie is the thinker of the whole group, she plans ahead and she always considers every option. She considers the good and also the bad options. She plans the benefits and also the negatives of them. Ellie is the most reliable character of the group because she writes down to even the smallest point. Even if the things are about her and relationships.
 * 2) 2. The term ‘foreshadowing’, is when the writer will drop hints to the reader about what may happen in the future. When the group were in ‘Hell’, and the military planes flew overhead, the group were saying half as a joke, ‘it’s probably the start of world war three’. And also when Ellie had a dream of being with Lee in the morning and when she wakes up she is with him.

Task Four

 * 1) 1. They all underwent major changes throughout the book but I thought homer was one of the big ones. I think he changed because before the war started, he was always mucking around and played practical jokes on people to humiliate them and generally didn’t care too much about schoolwork and things important like that. As the war started to commence, he got a lot more serious. He came up with magnificent ideas on how to survive, and was one of the main leaders of the group. Another person who I thought changed a lot throughout the book was Robyn. At the start of the novel she was quite timid but later on she gathered confidence and started to contribute to the group ideas, and actions.
 * 2) 2. Ellie at one stage outlines what she sees as ‘Homer’s genius’. Homers genius, means not that he actually is a genius, but that his ideas or his plans are brilliant. His ability to look ahead and plan what should happen is as you would say, ‘ingenious’.
 * 3) 3. Ellie worries that she might become ‘like a war criminal’ because of the things she has/is doing. The things that Ellie does in the book are things that she needs to do to either stay alive or help her own country. Her actions do not make her bad person. Although she may have killed some people, this does not make her a ‘bad’ or horrible person.
 * 4) 4. Ellie finds Chris asleep on sentry duty and loses her temper with him, should he belong in the group? In my opinion I don’t think that Chris belongs in the group. I think this because he is lazy, he smokes, drinks and takes drugs. He also falls asleep on sentry duty, putting all the other lives in jeopardy. Every time he is asked to do something he complains and tries to get out of it. If he doesn’t contribute to the group’s jobs, or actions then I believe he shouldn’t be there even though it would be terrible to leave him by himself.

Task Five

 * 1) 1. ‘Hell’ plays a very important role in //Tomorrow, When the War Began//. At the beginning of the story, hell was the place where the group of senior students go for a holiday. As soon as they found out that a war had actually started, they classified ‘hell’ as a sort of base. ‘Hell’ features all throughout the whole book as they keep going back to it and using it as a rendezvous point.
 * 2) 2. ‘Belonging’ to the land means that if somewhere become so important to someone, then they can feel as if they belong to it. It’s as though you feel like you are in your own home. Belonging to a place happens in the book. The whole group feel that they belong to ‘Hell’. They classify this as their home and their meeting point. Hell is the only safe spot for them.

Task Six

 * 1) 1. Ellie tends to act on impulse. Even though the group will plan everything out before they go out, it always seems to all go wrong. This is when they start to act on the spur of the moment. When Ellie ran through the grounds of Mrs Alexander’s house, she led herself, Kevin and also Corrie into a trap, there was nowhere to go. When Corrie says that she tripped up on a ride on lawnmower, then Ellie acted on the spur of the moment and decided to blow it up. So Corrie, who said she got injured by the tripping over the lawnmower, gave Ellie the ingenious idea of blowing it up.
 * 2) 2. Marsden creates tension in the Novel because it makes the book a lot more exciting. He does this in a very good way. When Ellie is forced to blow up the lawn mower, tension is used here. Ellie has the idea of getting fuel from the lawnmower and making a trail with it. She tries to light it. In this instance, she couldn’t get a spark. When she drops the match onto the fuel and Ellie thinks, ‘I threw it too fast’ this makes the reader want to keep reading and also creates tension by forcing the reader to think that Ellie’s actions have killed them.
 * 3) 3. Marsden is careful not to have the reader strongly identify with the three soldiers who are killed by the lawnmower. He does this so that when Ellie does kill the soldiers, the reader won’t make out that she is a cold heartless murderer and so that the reader doesn’t feel sorry for the soldiers. He does this by always focusing on what Ellie is thinking. ‘Bullets zinged past, chopping huge chunks of wood out of the tree to my left’, this implies that the soldiers are shooting to kill Ellie, who the reader has come close to throughout the book. That sentence will automatically make the reader think that the soldiers are horrible people for shooting at them.
 * 4) 4. I don’t think we condemn Ellie for the murders of the three soldiers because John Marsden didn’t let the reader getting to close and personal with the enemy. Because of this we still classify Ellie as a good person who murdered on the spur of the moment and to keep herself and also two other friends alive. ‘

Task 8 I rode in the shivering cold as the rain ran down my back. I passed numerous houses where families sat warm and safe inside. The smell of smoke from chimneys filled my nose and my eyes were glistened with tears. I had never ridden as fast as I did that night. My step-dad swerved around the corner a minute later. It was only an hour ago I was curled up in my safe and cosy room to read a book, and now I was on the verge of death. Steve put his foot to the floor and came roaring up the sidewalk towards my bike. My step-dad normally needed a lot of drinks to push him over the limit, but tonight he over did it. It felt like minutes before he had stumbled through the front door of our house, cursing while he held a drink in hand. Lily, my sister ran to my step-dad for a hug but instead was knocked to the ground. She started crying. This is when I came into the room. All I saw was lily on the ground and Steve’s unfocused eyes. I ran at him and gave him a shove in the chest. He shouted at me, and took a swing for my face. His fist rushed over my head, the alcohol making him dizzy. It was then that I sprinted for the bike and raced out the back gate. That brings me back to where I started racing in the rain trying to avoid my drunken step-dad. He bumped the back of my bike, and I nearly lost my balance. Going onto the road again, I ditched my bike and jumped the fence of the nearest house and ran into the backyard where I hid behind a pile of what looked like old dustbins. Dad never did find me but I will never forget the troubles and abuse I went through as a child. People say that you follow in your father’s footstep (or in my case step-father), and nowadays I believe them. I miss my son and my wife so much and can’t believe their gone. It wasn’t meant to be, I swore to myself I wouldn’t turn out like my step dad because of what he did. I guess I forgot I made that promise to myself. Now days I write in this Journal so that I never forget them and what has happened in my lifetime. My only regret is that I didn’t make the most of what life I had. Bertram Christie1st of July, 1982