Tomorrow When The War Began Analysis

In John Marsden’s novel, Tomorrow, When the War Began, chapter 4 furthers the plot through three important events: firstly was a serpent that crawled through Homer’s sleeping bag, secondly was the numbers of planes were flying in the middle of night without any lights on, and lastly was through Ellie’s decision that “Hell is people” and the feeling he's got for Fi.

At the beginning of the chapter, the group were having the time of their life, enjoying and exploring Hell. But there were little incidents that happened such as the snake incident. It was when Homer decided to lie down in his sleeping bag in which where he found a serpent in it. He freaked out and ran about a few meters away from where he was. The group worked together to exterminate

But before Ellie labeled “Hell is people” she discovered something about Homer. Homer seems to be interested in Fi in the fact that he opened a conversation about Fi when they were down by creek where Ellie found Homer looking for gold. It was a bit strange for Ellie that Homer to ask stuff about Fi. He was never interested to girls but just as Ellie says, “...The only women admired were the ones in magazines. Real women he treated like beanbags” (41). So it was a bit strange and unusual for Ellie to receive questions about Fi especially coming out in Homer’s mouth. Ellie already knows what it means when someone asks questions about people they are interested in. But of course Ellie supported his friend Homer and answered his questions properly. After their conversation about what Ellie thinks about Fi, Ellie took a walk to the last Satan’s Steps. As she was walking she found a wall and leaned against. She started thinking about their hike, path, and started asking questions about the man who built the built it and why did people call the place Hell. She said , “...Wild wasn’t Hell...No place was called Hell...It’s just people calling it Hell, that’s the only thing that made it so” (43). That’s maybe the reason and the explanation why people called it Hell. She then conclude that “Maybe Hell was people” (43). This tell me that maybe Hell would play a huge part on the book. It could mean that Hell is a place for people who are need of safe shelter. Is Hell really a place for safety?

These three events are the most significant in chapter four particularly the sightings of the planes and what it could possibly means. It can bring disaster to their lives or it can bring nothing at