Tomorrow, When The War Began | Chapter 8 Questions

1. How does Ellie feel after the lawnmower incident?

She feels horrible, that she has potentially murdered three people. Ellie believes her life will never be normal again and she is right, she can barely believe that she has done these things now and I believe that she will feel even worse when she has to do worse. It is likely she will have to do something much worse in the future, especially since Robyn and Lee have potentially been captured or killed. She attempts to describe it as if it isn't her, that she hasn't done it herself and instead was watching as someone else blew up the lawnmower and murdered three soldiers invading their country.

2. How does she think the others will react to her story when she tells it?

She was afraid that they would act as if she had done a heroic deed, that she is a war hero. When really she has done something horrible, and she feels as if she will never breathe the same again.

3. How do they actually react? Why?

They comfort her, they understand that it is not heroic, or a good thing. She has killed three people and the others see that she has changed forever. They see that they may have to do something like what she has done and that when they support her at that moment, she will support them when they do something similar.

4. Homer says, “This is war now, normal rules don’t apply.. They’re the ones who tore up the rule book, not us”” What does this say about his character? What do you think of the validity of his opinions?

I think it's to say how much he cares. Now that they have broken the rules, they know that he will break the same rules, that he will play the same game. And I think this is perfectly valid, in love and war there are rules, whether you abide by them or break them is your choice. But once one person breaks the rules, everyone will.

5. Fi talks about the ‘shadows’, during their reconnaissance. What are these shadows and what are the implications due to their existence?

I think this may have either been Lee and Robyn or the eighth character that these questions hinted at previously. I don't quite understand what else I'm meant to answer this question with otherwise.

6. What pieces of evidence from the book inform the reader that this invasion wasn’t entirely peaceful? Find at least 3 examples.

In chapter seven, page 85, we see the opposing soldiers open fire on Ellie, Corrie and Kevin. Afterwards, they continue to pursue them and shoot.

Homer speaks about seeing blood in the streets in chapter eight, page 97, along with Fi, there were also police cars on their sides, shops were broken into and stolen from, and cars crashed into trees.

In chapter four, on page 38, the planes that fly over the seven are without lights. While this can seem entirely reasonable, it is later revealed that it was likely for stealth rather than Commemoration Day celebrations.