The Story of Tom Brennan

After reading:
Fear, drink driving, family relationships, friendship, conflict, grief and loss are all important themes of this book. Choose two themes and describe/discuss how they are portrayed in the book. (We will work through an example answer in class)

THEMES
How is the theme of fear portrayed in TSOTB?

Sample Answer
(Fear is a significant theme in TSOTB. Throughout the story we see many examples of character confronting and being challenged by fear. We also see the different ways that characters cope with fear.
Tom Brennan is frightened of many things. He is frightened by the death of Nicole and Luke, the quadriplegia of Finn, the imprisonment of Daniel, the illness of his mother, the challenge of establishing himself in a new community. How does Tom confront his fears and cope with them?
Tom initially feels guilt ridden by a number of the tragedies that had occurred. With support from people such as C,T and B, Tom starts to realise that these tragedies were not his fault. He could not control what had happened. Tom pays his respects to the families of N and L. He starts to visit Finn on a more regular basis and he acknowledges that things will never return to how they were. Tom “moves on with his life” and in doing so overcomes many of his fears.)

Character Analysis:

Choose one of the following characters and provide a detailed character analysis of them:
Tom Brennan, Daniel Brennan, Tess Brennan, Joe Brennan, Brendan, Gran, Finn, Kylie, Kath, Chrissie.
Remember to follow the characterisation checklist.

Characterisation Checklist:
Name character
Describe appearance
Describe relationships with others
Describe thoughts, words and actions
Describe personality
Describe goals, ambitions, regrets
Describe how the character has changed/developed/grown throughout the course of the book.

Sample Character Analysis:

Kath O’Neil is Finn’s mother and an auntie of Daniel, Tom and Kylie Brennan. Kath is Tess’ sister. We don't know a lot