ESSAYS THAT ARE EXCELLENCE MODELS FOR TOMORROW, WHEN
THE WAR BEGAN BY JOHN MARSDEN
NAME A THEME IN AN EXTENDED TEXT THAT YOU STUDIED THIS
YEAR THAT YOU FOUND IMPORTANT. EXPLAIN WHY YOU FOUND IT
IMPORTANT AND PROVIDE EXAMPLES OF IT APPEARING IN THE
TEXT.
Tying your
topic into
today’s
world
An important theme in the extended text by John Marsden Tomorrow, When the War
Began, was change. Change is when something is altered, for example: your
surroundings, personality or relationships. Change is an important theme because it is
something that happens in the live of all people, and often makes a big difference to
our outlook on life. It is a theme which dominates this novel.
We see the theme of change in the text firstly regarding the characters’ situation.
The characters are suddenly pushed into the new and unfamiliar scenario of
war. They had been used to peaceful lives, without having to worry about
whether the next day would be their last. The change to the characters’ situation
is highlighted at the start of the novel, where Ellie says, “We’ve all had to rewrite
the scripts of our lives, these last few weeks.” By this Ellie means that their
situation has changed dramatically, and they’ve had to acknowledge this and adapt.
We can see from this example that change formed the basis for the plot and was
therefore an important theme in the text. Change in situations happens to all
people and this makes it an important theme in the novel because it is relevant to
readers’ lives.
The theme of change is also shown in the change to the characters’ personalities.
For example, Homer is portrayed, at the beginning of the text, as being
mischievous and a trouble-maker. His character, however, rapidly becomes
entirely different – Homer turns into a strong, responsible teacher and
completely serious about surviving. This is shown in the text when Homer speaks
to the others about their situation. “We’ve just got to become totally nocturnal and
triple-check everyone…we should get more supplies in and make it a proper
headquarters…organising rations…living off the land [we’ve got to become] a
guerrilla outfit.” This quote shows that Homer is serious about their situation and
knows what needs to be done in order to survive – a major contrast and change
from his playful personality at the text’s beginning, where Homer is described by
Ellie as “the guy who wasn’t even trusted to hand out the books at school.” This
shows another type of change that is important in the text is ‘change in personality’
because as someone’s situation and surroundings are altered, they change themselves
to adapt. Adaptation is important because, on a small or large, or more extreme
scale, change happens to all people in their lives and individuals will only succeed if
they adapt. The theme of change, therefore, is an important one in this text because
readers will be able to relate to it.
Change is also shown in the characters’ outlook throughout the text. In the
beginning the characters are normal teenagers whose thinking doesn’t seem too deep
or philosophical. As the novel progresses, the characters, especially Ellie, change their
outlook and their thoughts about life. After she has been through new situations
and experienced many new emotions, Ellie’s character develops into a more
complex thinker. This is shown by the quote, “Hell wasn’t anything to do with
places, Hell was all to do with people. Maybe Hell was people.” This is said by Ellie
when contemplating the popular name of their hideout by local residents, “Hell”.
This shows a deeper, philosophical thought process than seen in the beginning of
the text and shows that Ellie’s outlook on life has been altered through the events in
the text. Further, this shows another way that change is important in the novel,
and is important because all people undergo various changes in outlook
throughout their lives, making change a relevant and therefore, important theme
in Tomorrow, When the War Began.
In conclusion, change is an important theme in the extended text Tomorrow, When
the War Began, by John Marsden, because it is portrayed in various aspects of the
text, such as situation, personality and outlook on life. These are all relevant changes
to readers’ lives which makes the theme of change important because it relates to all
readers. This novel shows the extreme forms that change can take, and create.
YOU WILL NOTICE THAT THE PARTS OF THE PARAGRAPHS HAVE BEEN
COLOURED TO PRESENT THE DIFFERENT “JOBS” THEY HAVE WITHIN A
PARAGRAPH.
Statements - green
Explanations - red
Context examples - black
Quotes as supporting evidence - underlined
Analysis of these quotes (or what these quotes show us) - in italics
Paragraph summaries which link your evidence and point back to the essay
question’s argument – blue.
A very good recipe for essay paragraphs is:
Statement
Explanation
Context example
Quote as evidence
Context example
Quote as evidence
Analysis of evidence
Summary