Tomorrow, When The War Began
By John Marsden
Prediction based on book cover
Ellie
Great leader
Quite Bossy
Quick to get emotional
Diary Entry from family prisoners in the showground, Wirrawee
Dear Diary,
On the 26th of February 1994 we were all celebrating at the commemoration day fair, I was making a big sale from my cupcakes at my stall. There were so many children at the fair, straight away when we got into the fair my children were off and on as many rides as they can handle. My husband was getting the cupcake stall ready for me as i was unpacking all the cupcakes i made. “YES!!!” i said “there’s the great army display coming our way, my kids will love this!”. But i was completely wrong….
The next thing i know invaders in green suits coming from the sky, bombs blowing up everywhere, smokey, people screaming, people running, floor rumbling from all the bombs, i didn’t know what to do. I yelled to my children, no answer, i was panicking i felt like i had rocks in my stomach, i wanted to vomit. I yelled to my husband, no answer. I was running and screaming like everybody else. “I really want to find my family, i don’t know what i do without them.” Suddenly ahead of me i just see everyone stop in one spot, still screaming though. I get closer and closer to the big crowd and all of a sudden i realise why everyones stopped, we’re trapped in a gigantic cage.
The were about 4 big black helicopters above the showgrounds and few soldiers came down in parachutes gathering everyone and searching the grounds. I was so confused i didn’t know if this was a drill or if we were under attack….
I was hiding in a carriage on the ferris wheel, i was thinking to myself “Should i purposely make myself caught by the bad soldiers to try and find my family again or keep on hiding and think of an escape plan to try and get them out of the hands of this scary army?”. As i was still thinking about it, i started hearing the big crowd and soldiers marching, i knew there were many people and soldiers as i could taste dirt and the gravel as i was inhaling it in the carriage “So many people walking and stamping in fear” I said “My children and husband is in that crowd…”.
I was wondering where they were going, i peeked up out of the carriage the innocent people, my family and friend, were being dragged and connected to a rope and pulled up in helicopters. I didn’t know how many helicopters there were because it was night but i knew there were many as i could feel all the air the helicopters were making. My heart dropped, i was so caught up in the moment of thinking that where they were going and everything that i forgot that what was happening right now, the helicopters started lifting and i couldn’t see anybody on the showgrounds. I started balling my eyes out “my children and husband is on one of those helicopters going who knows where!”
I whispered to myself “They are gone forever….”
Homer- How he develops during the novel
Many characters in the group believed that Homer was very irresponsible and immature, at the start of the novel Ellie describes Homer as "Always (...) in trouble" (16), most of the group just saw him as a bit of a joke "no one took Homer very seriously" (43), because of these quotes that Ellie and the group said about him, Homer seemed to be a bit of a loner as he goes off by himself and doesn't appear to sit around talking to the others and be social with the group. However, a bit later on when they are in Hell, it is here that we first see Homer giving interest to Fi and this is one of the reasons you could see a big change in him.
As this feeling for Fi progressed he started to show off to try and impress her and that meant to change his personality completely. Everyone started noticing Homers drastic change and he became more of a leader in the group and very integral in making sure all of the group were aware of their safety "We've had a chance to rest up (...)" (?) and always thinking ahead of the group so they were ready for anything "Now we should decide if we're going to stay here in hiding..... or if we should get out there and do something and do something about it." (?)
At the end of the novel his leadership and confidence won Fi over and they were very happy. The rest of the group ended him giving him loyalty and trust and never said that he was irresponsible, immature, always getting into trouble etc.
Ellie- The natural leader
Elle was one of the organizers to go to Hell at the start of the novel and was very persuasive to make people go. She has a friendly and confident manner of herself that inspires the trust of her friends (the group) and their parents "Very sensible" (13). Ellie changes slowly but drastically in the novel as the more people she kills for her safety, the more guilt she gets.
The experiences that made her feel like this was the lawn mower and the car incident, killing people. "I was a mess of different feelings. I wanted to make calm, logical decisions..." (241) Ellie just couldn't keep calm, she probably killed the most people out of the whole group in the novel and she got the most guilt out of all of them too.
In the end, because of the guilt, ellie backed down from being the most strongest, confident leader to a timid, guilty and quiet leader and being able to remember every time she closed her eyes she killed people....
This is when Homer stepped up as the leader and Ellie agreed to it.
Corrie- A quiet and simple person
It wasn't Ellie who just organized the trip Corrie was also there to help with organising food, equipment and transport.
Later in the novel she started getting feelings for Kevin and ended up getting a relationship with him 'Boyfriend and Girlfriend', they were in love "more absorbed in each other than the scenery" (22)
On the personality side of Corrie there isn't really much to say because the novel does not show much.
Kevin- Better than anybody
He was not a popular person in the group because he had so much ego everyone got a bit annoyed with him especially the people he stole their idea from they did not like it one bit.
By the end of the novel Kevin realises he wasn't as tough as he thought he was and didn't have as much ego and ideas everyone else thought he had and definitely got annoyed, he actually went complete opposite, he became a softy and became very quiet. This is when Corrie got interested in to Kevin and saw the soft side of Kevin first out of all the whole group.
Robyn- Not much of a talker
Even though she was very quiet and subtle she got into a lot of action in the way of when she went into Wirrawee to look for something she always almost got caught by the soldiers and had to either run or kill. She wasn't that guilty of killing people because she knew she was doing it for a good reason, unlike Ellie, but she did sometimes question herself and others if they were doing the right or wrong thing or if she was going to get into trouble for it "I'm still not sure what's right or wrong in this whole setup..." (239).
When they were on the way hell to stay away from the town and the fairgrounds she became more of a confident, stronger person in the way that she didn't trust anybody anymore. When they were living in hell she became more of a leader for the group and everyone was quite surprised for it.
Robyn was one of main characters that changed quite drastically.
Fiona/ Fi- A sweet and posh person
When Ellie and Corrie asked Fi if she would go to the Hell trip she was a bit cautious in the way that she did not want to ask her dad as her parents are very strict and protective of her as she is the only child so asking them if they could go camping was a bit dangerous.... her dad was a bit uncertain about it because of the danger but Ellie finally convinced him that all will go well.
When she was packing you would notice that she is a bit perfect and she never really 'connected' to nature and never really gone camping as she packed a dressing gown, makeup and all the other crazy stuff that was definitely NOT camping suitable. Once she finally decided what she was packing she went to to Hell.
When they found out that Wirrawee was invaded something clicked in FI she changed drastically, she became more of a survivor than a perfect, always doing the right thing, innocent girl.
She had more determination and spirit in her and she always came up with ideas for the group. "seemed delicate and timid, but she had a determination.... there was spirit." (266). This is when Homer got feeling for her and Fi got feelings as well.
Homer and Fi ended up dating and fell in love straight away. She became a survivor and did very well with protecting and giving the ideas to the group.
Lee- quiet and reserved
Lee was in and out of the novel and actually got injured in one of the chapters, but he was survivor he was determined to get through not just that but anything that gets in his way "He was determined to do it..... he became outspoken (...)".
Lee never really healed from his wound but was able to help around the group and help around the campus in Hell. Ellie had feelings for him from the start but Lee and only started getting feelings for her until pretty much the ending of the novel "deep brown intelligent eyes..... he was good as most things, but he could be annoying when things went against him."
Ellie and Lee ended up dating in the last bit of the novel and also fell in love straight when they started dating.