Michael Mccarter's Short Story

Burke illustrates Tom’s inner conflict with first-person narration. The guilt he feels over the inactivity he had on the night of the incident, his frustration with Kylie and the added guilt he exhibits because he feels sorry for himself all adds up to his conflicted thoughts. Tom doesn’t know or feel like himself anymore. But Burke brings this to the attention of the reader in a good light when Tom thinks, “But now I knew what I missed most. I missed me, Tom Brennan, and that’s why now I could smile, ‘cause I could see he was coming back.” Thus, when J.C. Burke aptly finishes the book with the line “that was the morning Tom Brennan came back, forever,” the true development in Tom’s character and conflict is shown through the employment of first-person narration. Therefore, J.C. Burke thoroughly addressed the conflict in Tom’s mind as it was overcome in the

In ‘The Story of Tom Brennan’, the protagonist confronts a traumatic incident which compels him to undergo a physical relocation and sudden emotional change. The transition Tom predominantly faces is sudden as moving into the town of Coghill where he has to deal with social alienation and the horrific trauma inflicted through past events including Daniel’s anger and selfishness which hinders his physical and mentally growth and development. Tom experiences flashbacks of the ‘usual’ Australia Day with his family showing the complete paradox with what is now their reality and horror juxtaposed towards his flashback of the tragic accident of his older brother Daniel: “Running towards the car. Running into the headlights. Running into the silence of death.” The anaphora and repetition of ‘running’ highlights his emotional and physical devastation which emphasises the initial stages of the novel and negative connotations of ‘death’ assumes the setting. As a result of the crisis, Tom responds rather opposing towards transferring to a new setting of Coghill. Depressing motifs are frequently implied throughout the novel to express the feeling of despair and sadness: “There aren’t words to say how black and empty pain felt. It was deeper than the

| Tom wants his old life back prior to the accident and he sees the accident as the end of his life as he knew it. He loses his sense of identity and sense of family in particular.Feels guilty and ashamed about the irrevocable consequences his brother’s irresponsibility had for other people and their familiesRetreats into a depressed state which feels empty and black.

Tom never does anything without doing it to the fullest, good or bad. Tom has an overall extremely short temper, assertive,confident and aggressive nature. Tom’s wild, emotional, and uncaring attitude end up getting three people killed. Tom in the end is ultimately concerned with himself and his lavished ,intense, and high paced

“I saw them in Santa Barbara when they came back, and I thought I’d never seen a girl so mad about her husband. If he left the room for a minute she’d look around uneasily, and say: “Where’s Tom gone?” and wear the most abstracted expression until she saw him coming in the door. She used to sit on the sand with his head in her lap by the hour, rubbing her fingers over his eyes and looking at him with unfathomable delight. It was touching to see them together — it made you laugh in a hushed, fascinated way. That was in August. A week after I left Santa Barbara Tom ran into a wagon on the Ventura road one night, and ripped a front wheel off his car. The girl who was with him got into the papers, too, because her arm was broken

Arriving back at his apartment, Booker found Tom curled on the couch, his gaunt face a mask of misery. Dressed in ill-fitting sweats, the borrowed clothing swamped his slender frame, giving him the appearance of someone much younger than his twenty-five years. There was a bucket next to the couch that smelled faintly of vomit and Booker averted his eyes, unable to stomach the sight of the foul smelling liquid. His lower body ached, and all he wanted to do was take a hot shower and go to bed. For the first time since Tom’s arrival, he was aware of the enormity of what he was taking on. He could say goodbye to his carefree bachelor’s life, he was now responsible for a sick and emotionally damaged

Throughout the novel “The Story Of Tom Brennan” Burke cleverly employs an enormous amount of changes as a result of one tragic event. The event involves

Tom’s expression became pensive before his lower lip pushed into a soft, enticing pout and lifting his gaze slightly, he peered solemnly up at Booker through his long, thick lashes. “I have trouble trusting people,” he confessed softly, his dark eyes shimmering with emotion. “But I do trust you. I’m lonely, Dennis. I had no real human contact for six months and then you showed up. It was terrifying, but suddenly, there was someone who had belief in me and didn’t just see a disabled ex-con. You made me want to be Tom Hanson again and that’s why I stopped taking my meds; I didn’t want to be that fucked up zombie anymore. But I crave more… I need more. There’s something between us and I can’t live here pretending there’s not. I know we can’t be intimate, but there’s nothing wrong with hugging and kissing, is there? I mean, we’re friends, right? We can do that as friends… can’t we?”

Even though he is from a progeny of a First Family of Virginia, Tom is no gentleman. He commits many sins such as lying, stealing, and killing. Even though his reputation is tarnished, the town continues to trust him. When Tom claimed that “there isn’t any such knife” (168), the town believed him. They trusted his judgment even though he did not have a truthful reputation.

“Tom was not supposed to be killed, he had to be captured, you better hope he doesn't die!” yelled a U.S. police officer. During all the chaos Tom was being lifted into the ambulance, with the paramedics checking for any signs of life. The ambulance takes off speeding to the hospital while blinding onlookers with flashing lights. Tom was rushed to the operating room instantly, the hospital staff worked tirelessly trying to bring him back to life. Unfortunately, the doctor declared that Tom probably died the instant the bullet put an unrepairable hole, the size of a dime, in his heart.

No more Tom Ripley than Dickie Greenleaf, he returned to New York City behind a confused veil of anonymity. Occasionally, a sharp memory would point its way to the forefront of Ripley’s mind for just a moment: a moment that lasted just long enough for the piercing thought to puncture his brain. Guilt had Ripley in a stranglehold, periodically loosening its grip to allow fear to take over. Caught in a downward spiral that disguised itself as an endless loop, Ripley found himself regretting decisions he hadn’t yet made. Enough trauma came about on the trip back to New York: twenty-four-hour cycles comprising mental re-enactments of Peter’s death, staring at blank walls, and wondering how many extra murders it would take to cover the previous ones up. Ripley could never progress while brooding in a sombre cabin without so much as even a smirched window for a glimmer of light, let alone solve his problems entirely.

This shows the reader that Tom still believes in his own violent system of justice. Instead of coming up with a peaceful way to leave, Tom immediately thinks of a violent way to stop the police even if it might lead to him going to jail. Tom until the near end of the novel is a very violent and careless person.

If Tom heard, he made no acknowledgment. His eyes remained dull, his expression vacant. Somewhere, in the midst of the chaos that was the harshness of reality, he had managed to build a protective wall, a refuge in his mind where he was no longer a victim, no longer a weak, pathetic excuse for a man. He was Tom Hanson the cop, the loving son, the loyal friend; he was a man free

Yes. This is a story about me; Sammy McDiarmid. How I became a great villain. Everyone knows that's what I am, a villain. But how I became one? Here's how it all began.

His endeavor to capture the rape on camera was an attempt to disown the situation and look at it from another side through the camera lens, replacing himself with an impartial observer, an instrument without any feelings and biases. As soon as Tom accessed the evidence, he could not cope with what he had seen, and threw the camera into the sea, denying the true atrocity. Only after Tom discovers that his father had gone too far with his heinous desires and ended up raping Tom’s newborn sister, the teenager found the courage to confront his father. However, Tom’s hatred waded through his reasoning, so he stabbed his father with a kitchen knife, rushing into the embrace of rage and