Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Tomorrow, When the War Began, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
War, Law, and Morality
Family, Friendship, and Love
Coming of Age, Transformation, and the Loss of Innocence
Writing and Storytelling
Summary
Analysis
The next day, Ellie and the others wake at about 11:00 a.m. and do pretty much nothing but sit around and eat. They had forgotten to put away a bag of cookies the night before, and some wild animal clearly ate them. By late afternoon, Corrie and Kevin are kissing on Kevin’s sleeping bag, and Fiona and Ellie wade in the creek. Lee sits reading All Quiet on the Western Front, and Robyn listens quietly to her Walkman. Homer is off somewhere, panning for gold or climbing trees.
Ellie and the others aren’t exactly motivated—they just sit around eating junk food—which makes them look like a bunch of lazy teenagers. However, Lee’s book, All Quiet on the Western Front, a novel about the mental and physical stress of World War I by German novelist Erich Maria Remarque, foreshadows the war and obvious change in lifestyle that awaits Ellie and the others.
Themes
That evening, Homer drops to his sleeping bag, exhausted. He comments about how great Hell is and then jumps off the sleeping bag like a rocket. A snake has crawled in, and the bag is moving. Everyone stops what they are doing and gathers around the bag. Kevin suggests they weigh the bag down with rocks and drop it in the creek, but Ellie is worried the snake might bite through the bag. They decide it is best to stand on one side and try to flush the snake into the bush.
While Homer’s response to the snake in his sleeping bag is quite comical, the snake is still a very serious matter. Snake bites can be fatal and require immediate medical attention—and the group is deep in the bush, far from the hospital. Still, Ellie and the others are relatively calm. They approach the situation rationally, which reflects their growing maturity.
Themes
Robyn and Kevin grab heavy sticks and begin to gently lift the bag. It is “perfect teamwork,” until the sticks get too far apart. Robyn loses her grip for just a minute, which is all it takes, and the snake, now incredibly agitated, shoots out of the sleeping bag. Kevin stands paralyzed with fear. Ellie tries to think rational thoughts, but her brain tells her to panic. She runs, not caring about the others. Robyn runs, too, and Fiona jumps in the creek. Corrie has taken refuge, smartly, by the fire, and Homer is nowhere to be found.
The description of Robyn and Kevin’s efforts as “perfect teamwork” again reflects a rational and calm approach to trouble, but it doesn’t take long for it all to unravel, which points to their young age and general inexperience. When it counts the most, the friends panic and scatter, with little to no consideration for each other. This, too, makes their future transformation into rational young adults all the more powerful and significant.
Themes
Corrie points in the direction the snake went. She says Homer went in the opposite direction, and they all agree that was smart. Ellie asks Fiona why she is standing in the water, and Fiona says to get away from the snake, of course. Ellie informs Fiona that snakes can swim, and Fiona stands in the water, shocked. By 9:30 p.m. that night, almost everyone is sleeping, except for Fiona and Homer, who sit together by the fire.
Fiona and Homer sitting together alone in front of the fire suggests they are interested in one another and hints at the possibility of love. Fiona’s belief that she is safe from the snake in the water again underscores her inexperience and naivety having grown up in the suburbs.
Themes
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Sometime in the night, Ellie wakes and has to go to the bathroom. She doesn’t want to move, but she forces herself from her warm sleeping bag. Alone in the darkness, Ellie hears a sound in the distance. It is mechanical, like a hum. She decides it sounds like some kind of airplane, and then the noise gets louder. Suddenly, lines of airplanes pierce the quiet night sky, six lines in all, containing several planes. Ellie stands up, not realizing that she had dropped to the ground when the planes flew overhead. Afterwards, the night air feels contaminated, and the unmistakable smell of jet fuel permeates the area. Maybe Hell isn’t so remote, Ellie thinks.
Ellie doesn’t think that anyone has ever been to Hell, but the planes prove that isn’t true. The planes, like the ships in Cobbler’s Bay, suggest something is going on. Scores of jets don’t normally fly over the bush at night—or at all, for that matter. Lines of jet planes connote military operations, and that they’re flying in the cover of night suggests war. The fact that Ellie instinctively drops to the ground when the planes fly over implies that she immediately—if subconsciously—grasps that the planes are threatening and powerful.
Themes
Ellie goes back to her sleeping bag, and a groggy Fiona asks what all the noise is. Ellie tells her about the planes, and Fi says they are probably coming back from Commemoration Day. They always do demonstrations and flyovers during the celebration. Ellie decides Fiona is right and goes back to sleep. The next day, Robyn asks if anyone else heard the planes. There were hundreds, she says. Ellie tells them about the six lines she saw, and says it must have been a different lot from what Robyn saw. Lee comments that it is probably World War III. Australia could have been invaded, and they would never know in Hell.
Lee’s comment that it is World War III is clearly meant to be sarcastic, but there is some truth to his words. They are completely isolated in Hell, and they wouldn’t know if something awful happened back home. This conversation also speaks to the group’s inexperience and naivety, because it is highly unlikely that any local festival would involve hundreds of jets. The cost would be too great, and it would involve too much man power. The planes are definitely not part of a friendly demonstration, but Ellie and the others don’t realize this.
Themes
Fiona comments that if anyone wanted to invade them, Commemoration Day would be the perfect time. Kevin says he would do it on Christmas, in the early afternoon when everyone has gone back to sleep. Later, Ellie finds Homer alone by the creek, panning for gold. He asks her what she thinks of Fiona. Ellie tells Homer that she loves Fiona, even if she is perfect. Homer agrees that “Fi” does seem perfect and comments that she probably thinks he isn’t good enough for her. Ellie isn’t sure; she has never talked to Fi about Homer. Ellie is secretly blown away—she can’t believe Homer is actually romantically interested in Fi.
Again, Fiona’s comment that Commemoration Day would be the perfect time to invade the country is ironic. Readers can infer that Australia has been invaded, as evidenced by the hundreds of planes that flew overhead the night before and the title of the book. On another note, Ellie is surprised that Homer is interested in Fiona because they are so different: Fiona is a wealthy girl from the suburbs, and Homer is a rural farm kid. Homer worries that Fiona won’t like him because, compared to her, Homer is poor and rough around the edges.
Themes
Ellie looks around and wonders why everyone calls this place Hell. It is wild, for sure, but is it really like Hell? She decides it isn’t. It is merely Hell because people call it Hell. Kind of like Homer, Ellie thinks. People say he’s no good, so everyone thinks he’s no good. Animals don’t just accept things so easily. They use their intelligence and instinct and decide things for themselves. Hell doesn’t have anything to do with a place. It is people, Ellie decides. People are Hell.
Here, Ellie is beginning to show maturity. She is thinking for herself and not blindly accepting what other people tell her. This moment marks Ellie’s first consideration of Hell and what it means. Hell and Homer aren’t considered bad because they are inherently bad; instead, people have imposed those labels on them and then assumed those labels to be true. This realization will become important later in the novel when Ellie begins to struggle with the moral implications of the war.
Themes
