Tom Brennan Chapter Questions

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

This powerful characteristic that transitional phases possess have the potential to be a rewarding experience, as they provide an individual with the opportunity for growth and knowledge development through newfound relationships. In ‘The Story of Tom Brennan’, Tom exhibits this through his bond with Chrissy following the dark trauma he endures caused by his brother Daniel. Initially, Tom feels detached from his own identity as he refers to himself in third person “I missed…simple Tom Brennan”, emphasising his deteriorated mental state. However, the relationship he forms with Chrissy is instrumental in his recovery as he begins to find himself again. His passionate tone in “Today I kissed Chrissy Tulake, I felt like Tom Brennan” epitomizes how this bond empowers him to assert a stronger sense of personal identity. Burke, therefore, is able to reveal how transitional

Intro: J.C Burkes novel, ‘The Story Of Tom Brennan’ starts with a fatal car accident. Daniel Brennan a young driver who’s had to much to drink, makes a bad decision, and drives while intoxicated, with three other people in the car, in an instant his friends are dead, and his cousin Fin is left with permanent spinal injuries. This book shows us how Tom Brennan’s life changes when his older brother, Daniel, kills two people and paralyses another.

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

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

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.

Flashbacks to Tom’s previous rugby games with his brother re-affirm the loss he feels towards his old life. Tom feels the need to have everything the way it once was, and Coghill can’t replicate the joy he found in the endless afternoon training sessions with Daniel and his father, nor the adulation of the local community.

The story is written as a second person narrative. This style puts the reader in the position of the main character. We are never told the main character’s name, making it easier for the reader to relate to the character. Writing in the second person also challenges the reader, putting them in the position of the main character.

The story begins with the Brennans fleeing town. They packed all their belongings and left. They were ashamed of what went down just weeks recently. The harsh whispers that washed over and through the neighbourhood. They couldn’t handle it.

A narrator, who is without a name, tells of his first hand experiences throughout the story. This is in contrast to ‘Miss Brill’ in which narrative is delivered in the third person, with the use of free indirect speech to depict the story and portray the characters. By Wells selecting a first person narrative he draws the reader closer into the character’s mind set. This gives Wells the ability to convey the primary characters full spectrum of emotional thought, from open mindedness to the conflict and fear within him. First narrative provides the reader insight to thoughts and observations therefore adding suspense of the unknowing into the gothic style.

• First half of the novel is about Tom’s descent and the second half is about Tom’s

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

The switching points of view help form the world and breadth of the novel. Every chapter guarantees a new point of view and a new central character as parts of the methods of Egan’s madness. The opening chapter “…began the usual way…” (Egan, 1), with the character Sasha in third-person point of view like a typical novel. It exposes Sasha’s vulnerability and weakness, defined by her kleptomania, in an encounter with the character of Alex: “…the mix of feelings she’d had, standing there with Alex: the pride she took in these objects, a tenderness that was only heightened by the shame of their acquisition. She’d risked everything, and here was the result: the raw, warped core of her life” (15). Then, the novel closes with an older, reflective Alex and a glimpse into Sasha’s newfound strength and happiness. The end of the novel “…was

The postmodern style of writing John Kennedy Toole, makes so that the various cast of the characters in the story are much closer to people in real life making this book a perfect case to study and relate to characters of people across the world .

Tom Joad from the beginning of the novel can be seen as a very introverted character who seems to only be worried about his family and himself. In the second chapter we see Tom for the first time