iRead Journal Prompt #6 for Tomorrow When the War Began

-What is the role of women in the novel?

            The main character, Ellie, is one of the key leaders of the group.  She is strong willed, organized, and very determined.  Throughout the novel, Ellie is faced with immense situations that she accurately responds to.  “I was still operating on sheer panic.  I led them across the tennis court, trying desperately to think”(84).  Ellie used her panic to help gear her thinking process in helping the group out, and it successfully worked. Ellie’s role in the group was mainly to be the “thinker” of the group.  She made a lot of valuable decisions and created very important plans in helping the group survive.

            In the novel, Ellie grew in confidence and her character completely changed, for the better, after going through outrageous life changing incidents. She did most of the crucial work and was portrayed as the hard worker in the group.  Not only was she a great critical thinker, but Ellie was great at acting based off of her instincts.  Over countless occasions she helped save peoples’ lives and put her life on risk.  Although Corrie and Fi played as lesser important roles than Ellie, they were still very crucial to the group’s survival.  “Fi seemed delicate and timid, and she even claimed herself that she was, but she had a determination I hadn’t recognized before.  There was a spirit to her, a fire burning inside her somewhere”(259). 

            The role of women in Tomorrow When the War Began is portrayed as a very crucial and important role.  Each woman is depicted as strong and self motivated, who don’t require much help from others.  “I had to activate that determined voice in my brain: If you do nothing, you’ll die”(237).  Ellie was explaining how she got back to focusing on her main concern, survival, and that she had to become determined by herself or a different outcome would occur.  The women, especially Ellie, were strong because of the ways they handled situations and how they used teamwork to benefit the group.  Although in some novels, men are portrayed as the key leaders of the group and basically the important, valuable ones who take charge of groups, John Marsden did the opposite, and I believe it worked perfectly.

iRead Journal Prompt #1 for Tomorrow When the War Began

-Select a relatively important event in the book and describe why it was a turning point in the character's life? What was it that the character decided or learned to do?

            One major turning point in the book was when Ellie said “this is hopeless.  We’ll have to give up”(86).  Instead of giving up, Kevin, Corrie, and she moved a lawn mower to a drive way near Mrs. Alexander’s studio.  They had come up with a plan that involved the lawn mower to be used as an explosive.  The group only needed some matches, and had to find them quickly.  Ellie spotted Mrs. Alexander’s car and checked in her glove box for matches because she knew that Mrs. Alexander was a chain smoker, and was pleasantly surprised to find some matches.  In the mean time, Kevin grabbed a hammer and a chisel to make a hole in the side of the gas tank on the lawn mower.

            The soldiers were shouting and the group could hear footsteps of soldiers quickly approaching.  They were motivated by hearing the gun shots and noise that the soldiers were making.  They could tell that the soldiers were getting very close.  They unscrewed the cap to the lawn mower and Kevin took off his shirt, soaked it in the gas, and made a trail of gas to the wall where they were hiding. They decided to wait for the soldiers to get closer.  When the soldiers got close, Ellie tried to light a match, but her hands were trembling, so Kevin quickly motivated her “Do it”(88).  The lit match hit the gas trail and the flames quickly glided across to the lawn mower.  They could hear the lawn mower explode, and the soldiers screaming in pain.

            I thought that Ellie was surprised at her courage and Rambo-like actions.  She saved the group’s lives by blowing up the lawn mower.  Instead of giving up, she fought back with her will power.  Ellie also got her motivation from her two friends Corrie and Kevin.  They wanted to survive and were determined to make it happen at any cost.  This was probably the first time that Ellie had to resort to using violence to protect herself and the people around her, and I believe this made her stronger.  After going through a situation of ‘the strong live and the weak die’, Ellie realized how her actions could benefit the group.

            This incident built a bond through the group because of the teamwork they shared.  Ellie’s quick actions not only saved their lives, but it built up her courage and toughness.  Later on in the novel, Ellie had a much more important job of blowing up a gas tanker truck under a bridge.  The bridge was the main path for soldiers to bring their supplies to town.  I believe that if Ellie hadn’t gone through the previous experience of blowing up the lawnmower by quickly resorting to violence to benefit the group, she wouldn’t have had the courage to steal the enemy’s gas tanker truck and use it as a weapon against the soldiers.  “There was no way I was ever going to be a hero”(248).  Ellie was convinced that she wouldn’t successfully complete this mission of stealing a gas tanker and exploding it, but she had the courage to try.