Tomorrow, When the War Began

by

John Marsden

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One of Ellie’s friends and a member of the original group who goes camping together in Hell before the war breaks out. Fiona is not a rural kid like Ellie or Homer, and she lives in the suburbs with her lawyer parents. Compared to Ellie and the other rural kids, Fiona lives an incredibly pampered life. She is beautiful and delicate, and Ellie and the others think she is “perfect.” Fiona’s life of privilege means that she is rather sheltered, but she still manages to adapt to the stress of the war and mature like the rest of the group. In many ways, Fiona grows more than any of them, as she initially doubts her ability to perform under the pressure of the war or be as capable as the other kids. However, at the climax of the book when Ellie and Fiona steal a petrol tanker and blow up the bridge used by the enemy soldiers as a prime route of access in and out of the country, Fiona proves to be invaluable to the group. Fiona snaps Ellie out of a trance when Ellie is frozen in fear under the bridge, and she gives Ellie the motivation to keep moving when Ellie feels most like giving up. As Ellie makes her way across the open field after rigging the tanker to explode, she is repeatedly shot at by the enemy soldiers, but Fiona’s presence in the nearby tree line gives Ellie the strength to keep running. Ellie is motivated by her friendship with Fiona and the love she feels for her, which underscores the importance of love and friendship within the novel. Fiona’s relationship with Homer also underscores the importance of love, and it further suggests that love and emotions can’t be ignored. Fiona falls in love with Homer in midst of the foreign invasion, which proves that love and life go on, even during the obvious stress and upheaval of war.

Fiona Quotes in Tomorrow, When the War Began

The Tomorrow, When the War Began quotes below are all either spoken by Fiona or refer to Fiona. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
War, Law, and Morality Theme Icon
).
Chapter 2 Quotes

It was about half past two when we got to the top. Fi had ridden the last couple of k’s, but we were all relieved to get out of the Landie and stretch our bones. We came out on the south side of a knoll near Mt Martin. That was the end of the vehicle track: from then on it was shanks’s pony. But for the time being we wandered around and admired the view. On one side you could see the ocean: beautiful Cobbler’s Bay, one of my favourite places, and according to Dad one of the world’s great natural harbours, used only by the occasional fishing boat or cruising yacht. It was too far from the city for anything else. We could see a couple of ships there this time though; one looked like a large trawler maybe.

Related Characters: Ellie (speaker), Fiona
Related Symbols: Hell
Page Number: 18
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

I went for a walk back up the track, to the last of Satan’s Steps. The sun had already warmed the great granite wall and I leaned against it with my eyes half shut, thinking about our hike, and the path and the man who’d built it, and this place called Hell. “Why did people call it Hell?” I wondered. All those cliffs and rocks, and that vegetation, it did look wild. But wild wasn’t Hell. Wild was fascinating, difficult, wonderful. No place was Hell, no place could be Hell. It’s the people calling it Hell, that’s the only thing that made it so. People just sticking names on places, so that no one could see those places properly any more. Every time they looked at them or thought about them the first thing they saw was a huge big sign saying “Housing Commission” or “private school” or “church” or “mosque” or “synagogue.” They stopped looking once they saw those signs.

Related Characters: Ellie (speaker), Homer, Fiona, The Hermit / Bertram Christie
Related Symbols: Hell
Page Number: 43-44
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6 Quotes

Robyn took over. “We’ve got to think, guys. I know we all want to rush off, but this is one time we can’t afford to give in to feelings. There could be a lot at stake here. Lives even. We’ve got to assume that something really bad is happening, something quite evil. If we’re wrong, then we can laugh about it later, but we’ve got to assume that they’re not down the pub or gone on a holiday.”

Related Characters: Robyn (speaker), Ellie, Homer, Lee, Fiona, Kevin, Corrie
Page Number: 63-64
Explanation and Analysis:

“Maybe all my mother’s stories made me think of it before you guys. And like Robyn said before, if we’re wrong,” he was struggling to get the words out, his face twisting like someone having a stroke, “if we’re wrong you can laugh as long and loud as you want. But for now, for now, let’s say it’s true. Let’s say we’ve been invaded. I think there might be a war.”

Related Characters: Lee (speaker), Ellie, Homer, Fiona, Robyn, Kevin, Corrie
Page Number: 68
Explanation and Analysis:
Epilogue Quotes

We’ve got to stick together, that’s all I know. We all drive each other crazy at times, but I don’t want to end up here alone, like the Hermit. Then this really would be Hell. Humans do such terrible things to each other that sometimes my brain tells me they must be evil. But my heart still isn’t convinced. I just hope we can survive.

Related Characters: Ellie (speaker), Homer, Lee, Fiona, The Hermit / Bertram Christie, Robyn, Chris
Related Symbols: Hell
Page Number: 284
Explanation and Analysis:
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Fiona Quotes in Tomorrow, When the War Began

The Tomorrow, When the War Began quotes below are all either spoken by Fiona or refer to Fiona. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
War, Law, and Morality Theme Icon
).
Chapter 2 Quotes

It was about half past two when we got to the top. Fi had ridden the last couple of k’s, but we were all relieved to get out of the Landie and stretch our bones. We came out on the south side of a knoll near Mt Martin. That was the end of the vehicle track: from then on it was shanks’s pony. But for the time being we wandered around and admired the view. On one side you could see the ocean: beautiful Cobbler’s Bay, one of my favourite places, and according to Dad one of the world’s great natural harbours, used only by the occasional fishing boat or cruising yacht. It was too far from the city for anything else. We could see a couple of ships there this time though; one looked like a large trawler maybe.

Related Characters: Ellie (speaker), Fiona
Related Symbols: Hell
Page Number: 18
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

I went for a walk back up the track, to the last of Satan’s Steps. The sun had already warmed the great granite wall and I leaned against it with my eyes half shut, thinking about our hike, and the path and the man who’d built it, and this place called Hell. “Why did people call it Hell?” I wondered. All those cliffs and rocks, and that vegetation, it did look wild. But wild wasn’t Hell. Wild was fascinating, difficult, wonderful. No place was Hell, no place could be Hell. It’s the people calling it Hell, that’s the only thing that made it so. People just sticking names on places, so that no one could see those places properly any more. Every time they looked at them or thought about them the first thing they saw was a huge big sign saying “Housing Commission” or “private school” or “church” or “mosque” or “synagogue.” They stopped looking once they saw those signs.

Related Characters: Ellie (speaker), Homer, Fiona, The Hermit / Bertram Christie
Related Symbols: Hell
Page Number: 43-44
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6 Quotes

Robyn took over. “We’ve got to think, guys. I know we all want to rush off, but this is one time we can’t afford to give in to feelings. There could be a lot at stake here. Lives even. We’ve got to assume that something really bad is happening, something quite evil. If we’re wrong, then we can laugh about it later, but we’ve got to assume that they’re not down the pub or gone on a holiday.”

Related Characters: Robyn (speaker), Ellie, Homer, Lee, Fiona, Kevin, Corrie
Page Number: 63-64
Explanation and Analysis:

“Maybe all my mother’s stories made me think of it before you guys. And like Robyn said before, if we’re wrong,” he was struggling to get the words out, his face twisting like someone having a stroke, “if we’re wrong you can laugh as long and loud as you want. But for now, for now, let’s say it’s true. Let’s say we’ve been invaded. I think there might be a war.”

Related Characters: Lee (speaker), Ellie, Homer, Fiona, Robyn, Kevin, Corrie
Page Number: 68
Explanation and Analysis:
Epilogue Quotes

We’ve got to stick together, that’s all I know. We all drive each other crazy at times, but I don’t want to end up here alone, like the Hermit. Then this really would be Hell. Humans do such terrible things to each other that sometimes my brain tells me they must be evil. But my heart still isn’t convinced. I just hope we can survive.

Related Characters: Ellie (speaker), Homer, Lee, Fiona, The Hermit / Bertram Christie, Robyn, Chris
Related Symbols: Hell
Page Number: 284
Explanation and Analysis: