Overcoming Adversity In Tom Brennan

How does the author use characterisation to explore the central themes of ‘The Story of Tom Brennan’?

This period of our lives is a one bursting with challenging events and life-changing transitions, don’t you think? However testing this phase may be though, it's how we accept and counteract these alterations that ultimately opens up a deeper understanding of our world and self. J.C. Burke’s thought provoking novel, ‘The Story of Tom Brennan’ and John Marsden and Matt Ottley’s heartbreaking picture book ‘Home and away’, address this concept of transition and their challenges associated as each protagonist undergoes a catastrophic journey surrounding a challenged attitude and the need for maturity development.

The phases of life and social context is predicated through the sum of personal feats and experiences as crises and adversity are the greatest motivator which propel individuals to become better than they were before. J.C. Burke’s ‘The Story of Tom Brennan’ is an example of the transitional process through entering a new, unknown area which acts as a catalyst for beneficial change. Hindered by emotional and physical turmoil, the protagonist Tom Brennan alleviates his devastated life in the new town of Coghill forming relationships along the way and achieving new goals. Lisa Forrest’s article ‘Testing new waters after leaving the swimming pool’ (TNWALTS) is another type towards transitional change that explores the personal crisis and career

It was physically hard – our little band of students and guides hiked about ten miles a day through harsh terrain, often in bitter cold weather. What little fat that I had disappeared, reducing me to a five-foot-seven, hundred-pound, walking pile of skin and bones. It was emotionally hard – sharing with each other and our counselors those parts of ourselves that hadn’t worked so well.

The experience of moving into the world can challenge individuals attitudes and beliefs. Into the world explores the aspects of growth, transition and change. The novel ' The Story of Tom Brennan' by J.C Burke explores the different ways individuals grow when they are taken out of their comfort zones and venture into new experiences. This concept is also conveyed within the song 'Fast Car' By Tracy Chapman and the film 'Charlie st Cloud' Directed by Burr Steers. 'The Story of Tom Brennan' follows the lives of the Brennan family after the events of a fatal car accident, it shows how Tom the protagonist struggles to cope with his past, similarly the song 'Fast Car' is a representation of an escape, a women seeking to flee a life she finds

Characters in ‘The Story of Tom Brennan’ and how they deal with aspects of growing up or transitions into new phases of life and a broader world.

Individuals respond in various ways to transitioning into a new phase of life and society, these transitions can be challenging and confronting. They can also be transformative and thus some individuals accept and others reject because it’ll often initiate a series of consequences that may accelerate one’s personal growth and involuntarily change one’s perspective and/or attitude. These ideas are manifested in J.C Burke’s, ‘The story of Tom Brennan,' a move about the transitions that characters face after an indelible accident. In correspondence to the short story, ‘Neighbours’ by Tim Winton and is about a young couple moving from the city to the village and finding it difficult to reside with the European migrants.

‘The back page of the Billi Weekly ran a photo of me throwing a dive pass to Daniel’ (p. 120)

Daniel Brennan is the main character of the story,' Tom Brennan'. He plays an 18 year old son, who makes a decision that completely ruins his life and his reputation. Before the accident, Daniel had the dream life any teenage boy could ever want. He was five-eight and his brother Tom was half-back, they worked as a team. All that is over now.

It outlines the struggle an individual faces in finding stability between developing a sense of forming a unique identity while still being accepted and “fitting in” with society. Erikson believed that when teenagers adequately navigated their way through this crisis, they would transpire into having a clear understanding of their individual identity and easily share this new ‘self’ with others. However, if an individual is unable to navigate their way through this crisis period, they may be uncertain of who they are which can result in a lack of understanding, leading to disconnection from society and the people around them. If youth become stuck at this stage they will be unable to become emotionally mature adults, according to Erikson’s theory. This period of an individual’s life allows them to investigate possibilities which will lead them to discovering their own identity based upon the result of their explorations.

     The transformation of self deals with a teachers’ understanding of what’s going on in our multicultural society. Teachers’ have the responsibility to eliminate their prejudices and instead examine what they are teaching and present it in a

• empathy is created as we grow fond of the protagonist who shares a story of hardship

Although for those eight years Peter Skrzynecki was unable to change, at the end of the poem he shows that after everything it was within himself to find his sense of belonging even if he wasn’t motivated by the same reasons that his mother was. Does this then show a change in attitude and understanding by the character?

The pain and grief of traumatic road accidents can complicate and severely damage many relationships, especially those in small, close knit communities. The line becomes blurred between perpetrators and victims, as beliefs become doubted, and sympathy arises for those who sadly lost their lives, and those who “move on from a moment that threatens to define them forever” (‘Shattered’, 2011). Viewers respond to compassion and remorse shown in the stories, typical views of perpetrators and victims become challenged, demonstrating the enormous influence of a person’s attitude on other’s perspective and opinion of them. The Story of Tom Brennan is an award winning Australian novel written by Jane Burke, published by Random House during 2005.

The personal Narrative “Music Tonight” by Stephen Policoff is unusual because it is all about the daughter, but written from the father’s perspective. I was at first confused as to who the transformation would happen to, and it seems that both the father and daughter experience transformations within the piece, but because it is told from the father’s point of view we will focus on him being the character. At first, this story made me feel somber because I was sympathizing with the daughter, however after reading the entire story I realized that this story is not meant to be morose but rather to celebrate the joyous effect that music has on Anna. Simply because she was diagnosed with a neurological degenerative disease I was beginning to