In the book “tomorrow when the war began” author John Marsden. The character Homer grows and matures throughout the story line. This essay will explore how Homer’s maturity and growth is displayed through his ability to start making decisions and leading members of the group. In the beginning he was always in trouble but towards the end he grew into a strong leader who considered his friends and their safety. The first incident where he matures is after Ellie blew up the lawn mower and soldiers along with it. When Ellie, Kevin, Corrie and Homer were at Corrie’s house and Ellie was having a breakdown; Homer was the one to make the first move.
He placed his hand on hers to make her feel better. He made a motivated speech to the others “you guys did well. Don’t feel so bad. This is war now, and normal rules don’t apply. ” Homers confidence and strength is shown in this speech. It shows how he matures quickly in bad situations by thinking the best things to say and the best things to do. It was good that homer helped everyone through what happened, being shot at chased by cars yelled at and put in a life threatening situations . This is where he starts to show that he grows and matures.
It changed homer because he knew that it wasn’t a silly game anymore, he knew that he couldn’t be stupid in a time where his home area is getting invaded by these people. To encourage the others he says “you guys did well. Don’t feel so bad” he’s telling them that they did a good thing and that they can possibly do it again, later he goes on about making new rules “this is war now, normal rules don’t apply” and that its okay to kill anyone that gets in there way. Homer is giving supportive feedback and telling the group what do and how they should stand up for themselves.
Further on in the book when everyone is at corrie’s house again, homer decided to make another decision that helped the group by getting them out of the house in time before corrie’s house got blown up by a jet. Ellie noticed that homer had been scanning the road nervously; he stood up “I’m really spooked about that helicopter. Let’s get out right now. ” Homers edginess and care for his friends safety really played out in that part of the book it helped the others realise what’s going, on and homer forcing them to get out of the house had made everyone realise he was growing into a leader.
Homer’s decision to leave is based on his opinion and feeling. The group trusts Homer’s opinion. Another great speech that homer makes is “let’s get cracking, we’ve been lucky. We can’t afford to make that many mistakes again. ” Here it’s his decision making again , but after that John Marsden says in the storyline that he leads the group through the sitting room and out the door as if he’s the football couch telling the team what to do, giving them great feedback, getting them too move places, gives his opinion, gives the opportunity for the groups opinion but his plan is the main one, he’s being a team leader.
At the end of the book Homer matured and grown into a survivor. He had to deal with the pain of seeing his friend Corrie been shot in the back. He dealt with the pain by staying a strong leader for the others and giving them a plan that might work “this is going to sound cruel, but the only thing to do is to take her to the gate of the hospital, abandon the car with Corrie in it, ring the bell, and run like hell. Homer tried to think of the others safety and Corries injury at the same time which was hard for him but keeping strong for the others made him get through the situation. The group doesn’t follow Homers plan because they put moral justification before the need to survive. Homer grows, matures, becomes a team leader by the end of the book, even at the end he tells everyone were to go, were there new home is, in hell.
Homer begins to lead by changing the rules around, telling the others they did well throughout the book, gives them supporting advice or great speeches to help the others feel more calm about what’s going on. He becomes the leader by establishing the plans making the others move forward keep them moving and pushing them on to achieve their greatest. Homer shown his friends that he can be more than a difficult person that gets in trouble all the time by caring for them putting his friends before himself. Throughout the story line Homer grows and matures into a survivor.
