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.
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.
Point - green
Expand/Explain - red
Examples - black
Quotes as supporting evidence - underlined
Analysis of these quotes (or what these quotes show us) - in italics
Relevance statements which link your evidence and point back to the essay question’s argument – blue.
A very good recipe for essay paragraphs is:
Point
Expand/
Explanation
Example/Quote as evidence/Details
Relevance statement