Extended Written Text Essay Tomorrow, When the War Began, by John Marsden.
Topic: Describe a valuable lesson that you learned from a major conflict in the text you have studied. Explain why the lesson has been valuable to you.
A valuable lesson to be learnt in the extended text Tomorrow, When the War Began, by John Marsden was the value of bravery when you are faced with change; specifically discovering bravery you never knew you had! This lesson is highlighted in the scary conflict between the soldiers and Ellie when Ellie uses quick thinking and blows up the lawnmower, and the soldiers along with it. She discovers bravery she never knew she had. This lesson is valuable to me and other teenagers as it is relevant to today’s world because normal, everyday people can become heroes if they are in dangerous situations.
Firstly, the lesson of undiscovered bravery is valuable as it demonstrates how much we can change in situations of danger. By this I mean Ellie’s brave actions offer to normal people, showing them that in situations of d anger they too could discover a bravery they never knew they had and change into a better more heroic person for it. “I felt then and still feel now that I was transformed by those four steps…I was now a force to be reckoned with” Ellie says of her dramatic transformation from average schoolgirl to brave heroine. Ellie’s transformation at that moment of danger is a valuable lesson to us all that we too can become heroes and heroines in situations of danger, finding unknown strengths and bravery in order to save our lives and the lives of our loved ones.
Secondly, the conflict between the soldiers and Ellie offer us valuable lessons in bravery when our situations change. Ellie’s small town of Wirrawee was once a peaceful, even boring place. Somewhere you would think it very unlikely to run into armed soldiers. But when it is occupied by enemy forces, Wirrawee changes drastically. The town now looked so different and to find bravery when your once familiar surroundings have become unrecognisable and unsafe is very brave, indeed. Sitting in the once easily recognisable garden of family friends, Mrs Alexander, knowing that enemy soldiers are approaching, Ellie must have felt terrified. Life as she knew had turned upside down. A news report later confirmed this “Enemy forces occupy all the coastal towns…40 people are dead.” These were not things Ellie would normally think of when she though back to the old Wirrawee. The lesson of finding bravery in situations of unfamiliarity is extremely relevant and valuable. It represents how we too can still feel brave, even if our once familiar surroundings become unrecognisable.
Lastly, the major conflict offered us valuable lessons in adapting to new found bravery. Ellie found bravery that night when she blew up the lawnmower and soldiers but the bravery came so suddenly she had to adapt just as quickly. “We had to rewrite the scripts of our lives” Ellie says of the changes. Their whole lives had to be rewritten just like that, in a short space of time. They had to adapt to their changes, like coping new found bravery; everyone thinking you are a hero, when deep down you still processing the change. Ellie does have issues with her new found bravery at first, people thinking she was a hero and that fact she had killed, but eventually she adapted; she had to if she wanted to survive. This lesson is extremely valuable as it shows us just how discovering bravery can be hard to adapt to.
In conclusion, the major conflict between the soldiers and Ellie presented readers with a valuable lesson about bravery and adapting to bravery. This lesson was valuable to me and other teenagers as it demonstrated how we can transform to become brave in times of need, shows us how to find bravery when out situations change and how we can adapt to newly found bravery.