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Tomorrow When The War Began Essay

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Tomorrow, When the War Began In the novel Tomorrow, When the War Began written by John Marsden, we as the readers are asked a continuous question, would you love someone to the point where you would sacrifice your life for their safety? Marsden helps us understand love, innocence and maturity through the way he outlines this question in his novel. Love is a theme in Tomorrow, When the War Began, which outlines the bond between a couple when going through war. It helps us as readers understand how difficult situations and tragic loss can strengthen this bond. Marsden explores a different side to the character Kevin, a sacrificial side, one we as the readers have never seen before. When Corrie his girlfriend is shot, and …show more content…

Marsden explores the fantasy of safety and believing their would never be a time in your life where you may have to hurt others to keep yourself alive through the character Ellie. This is seen in the novel when Ellie and Corrie are sitting in Corrie's tree house that they spent hours in when they were young. They were discussing their innocence and how they lost it all when they stopped believing in Santa Clause and the tooth fairy, at least they thought they did, but then Ellie says “... but I’ve learnt something now Corrie, we were still innocent up until yesterday, we didn't believe in Santa Clause but we believed in other fantasies you said it. You said the big one. We believed we were safe. That was the big fantasy…” (pg. 107). The author uses juxtaposition to emphasize the meaning behind this quote. We as the readers are once again being challenged by Marsden “We believed we were safe” Ellie didn't believe in magical myths anymore, but never in her wildest dreams did she think her safety, her life and the lives of her friends would be put in jeopardy, especially at such a young age. Marsden is trying to show us as readers that innocence isn't just being young and free of all our troubles, but it's so much more than that. Innocence is believing you were ever safe in this violent world. Something all readers would have done until now. Anything could happen in this world after all “Humans created evil.”

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