Dara

Grade 8
English Language A
Ms. Kim

Tomorrow, When The War Began

Thematic Essay
As one of the most successful football coaches during the
nineties, Lou Holtz once said, Life is ten percent what happens to you
and ninety percent how you respond to it.Both Tomorrow, When The
War Began by John Marsden and The Silver Sword by Ian Serraillier are
novels that involve war, and the characters in them faced many harsh
difficulties. Both books show us that tribulation can reveal ones true
potential and courage. In Tomorrow, When The War Began, Ellie and
her friends were put in many tough circumstances, where they had to
strengthen their courage to make decisions thrown at them such as
deciding whether or not to split up into small groups, and whether or
not to kill the soldiers to save their own lives. Similarly to The Silver
Sword, Edek had to show great bravery to go through the moral
dilemmas that he faced within the chaos of the war, deciding between
tough choices on his actions. Both novels demonstrate that moral
dilemma is an unpreventable experience.

In the novel Tomorrow, When The War Began, war had put Ellie
and her friends in many tough circumstances where they had to
strengthen their courage to go through onerous decisions. To begin,
the group went through a demanding decision making process of
whether they should stick together or split up into smaller groups , to
complete their duties faster, but that will meanwhich meant they will
would have to be more self-reliant and cautious of their individual
actions. As Homer suggested to the group, I think we should split
up(73), there was a whispered howl of protest. But at the end, with
courageousness, the group followed the plan anyway. This
substantiates that the miserable war tragedy had indeed strengthen
the groups bravery to make decisions that they normally would fear
of. , which Showing shows us that the consequences of the war were
highly determined by the groups actions and how they responded to
choices provided to them. Additionally, while the group was up the hill
behind Robyns house to observe the town and see how things were
going, Homer also showed that war have had developed him into a
more mature and valorous person with his judgments, . when he He
enlightens enlightened the group with his strategic mind by saying,
We need to be out of town before dawn. A long way out of town. And
were running short of time, and intelligently he continued on, Two
people can move more quietly than seven. And finally, to tell you the
truth, if there are soldiers here and anyones caught well, again,

twos better than seven (74). This quote by Homer certifies that the
group shows great courage to make decisions to get through the
danger of the war, as they rationalize their choices valiantly and are
willing to take actions, even though they know it is dangerous.
Evidently, the trauma of the invasion had fortified the groups bravery
to make decisions. To sum up, difficulties can reveal the true heroism
hidden in a person.

In Tomorrow When The War Began, the invasion of Wirrawee had

given Ellie many self-conflicts. At one point of the novel, Ellie and her
friends were spotted and were relentlessly chased by the soldiers,
which she then had to decide on whether to kill the soldiers to save her
friends and her own lives, or get caught, probably even killed. As the
soldiers left them with no other choice, Ellie eventually decided to
explode the ride-on mower and kill the soldiers for their own survival.
After the occurrence of this unfortunate incident, Ellie said guiltily to
the group, It was hard for me to believe that I, plain old Ellie, nothing
special about me, middle of the road in every way, had probably just
killed three people (93). This quote corroborates that war have had
really shaped Ellie into a new person, in which she had become more
courageous to sacrifice her morals to fight for survival. We can indeed
see that the self-conflicts from the war have had a significant impact
on Ellie. Furthermore, while Ellie was sitting on the tree house at

Corries place, taking her sentry turn, she even thought to herself
remorsefully, It was a choice of two evils (104). By this metaphor of
putting choice and evil into comparison, it comes to show how arduous
and intense it was for Ellie to make those decisions forced at her, and
how much gallantry it took for her to do things that she know isknew
were ethically wrong. As you can see, survival was the main motivation
for Ellie to do things against her morality. In conclusion, war certainly
does toughen Ellies potential to go through strenuous decisions.

In the novel The Silver Sword, Edek and his siblings had to show
great bravery to go through the moral dilemmas that they faced within
the chaos from the occupation of the Nazis., deciding between tough
choices on their actions. To start off, Edek was cognitively forced to
disobey his morals on the night when the Nazi storm troopers broke
into his house and captured his mother. After failing on his attempt
trying to stop the storm troopers from taking his mother away, he said
to his sister, Ruth desperately, I couldnt let them take mother away
like that (31). This quote shows us that Edek felt deeply distraught
with Nazis taking away his belongings, let alone his beloved mother
and the city which he have lived in for all his life. As a result, the
trouble and challenges that the Nazis gave to Edek made him a more
determined and courageous person, to be willing to go through tough
decisions to fight and get back whats meant to be his. Moreover, the

struggles that Edek faced during the Nazis occupation also led him to
the moral dilemma of whether or not to steal food for his siblings and
his own survival. Because the fact that their parents were all sent
away, Edek and his siblings have had no guardian to take care of them
and no job for money to buy food for themselves. This means meant
they had to do things against their morals in order to survive such as
steal. The narrator of the novel even said, They saw nothing wrong in
stealing from their enemies (35). This proves that the war had made
the children colder and more courageous to fight for their survival,
even if it means meant to contravene their morals. In final
consideration, the tribulations caused by the Nazis occupation, had
indeed revealed Edeks and his siblings true capability to go through
difficult decisions.
Both Tomorrow, When The War Began by John Marsden and The
Silver Sword by Ian Serraillier show us that tribulation can reveal ones
true potential and courage. The characters from both books all went
through harsh situations caused by the invasion of their city, which
actually strengthened their courage to go through arduous decisions
that they would normally be afraid of. The difficulties that the
characters faced certainly do revealed the heroism hidden within them.
Furthermore, seeing how wars can make a person more valorous, more
determined and more courageous with their decisions, and how it can
embolden a person to sacrifice their morals to fight for their survival

reminds me of is similar to the events of the Khmer rouge. It was a

sudden yet deadly invasion, all Cambodians including children were
treated harshly, and they were all forced to work from sunrise to
sunset with only a small bowl of porridge for meal. Although the Khmer
rouge really affected Cambodias development and history, I can tell
that this catastrophic incident had undoubtedly strengthened many
people and have made them more courageous to work hard and fight
for their survival. The biggest risk is to take no risk. Or to take crazy
risks (Marsden 107). For a greater good, I believe that it is acceptable
to do the wrong thing for the right reason. As Lou Holtz said, Life is
ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond
to it. In the novels, the occurrence of the invasion is just a tiny factor
of the whole storyline, whats most important is how the characters in
them choose to respond to the decisions thrown at them, which its is
no different to real life. Although, we cant control what happens in life,
we definitely have the power to control how we respond to it.

Works Cited

"Khmer Rouge." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2015.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_Rouge>.
"Lou Holtz Quotes." BrainyQuote. Xplore, n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2015.
<http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/l/lou_holtz.html>.
Marsden, John. Tomorrow, When the War Began. New York: Point, 2006. Print.
Serraillier, Ian, and C. Walter Hodges. The Silver Sword. New York: Criterion, 1959.
Print.