John Marsden’s 1993 novel Tomorrow, When The War Began, Homer develops from a rowdy, juvenile teen to a courageous, born leader. Before the war started Homer’s life consisted of pranks and not giving a single care in the world, but after the war began all this changed. As the war progresses, Homer’s sense of childish behaviors begin to fade away as he begins to take charge and shows his developing leadership skills. At the end of the novel, Homer is a respected leader and a fundamental member of the group’s survival.
At the start of Tomorrow, When The War Began, Homer was a childish, irresponsible and naive teen:
“Homer would wait till they (the workmen) were safely up there, working away hard he’d strike. Half an hour later you’d hear yells and cries from the roof ‘Help! Get us down from here! Some mongrel’s pinched our bloody ladder!’” (Marsden, 1993, p16).
This quote shows how irresponsible and immature Homer was at the start of the book. He was always in trouble at school, wasn't taken seriously on many occasions and didn’t care what he did or what others thought (p15). Homer was a strong character in the first chapters of
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As the chapters go on, Homer’s and Ellie’s friendship starts to turn into a slight rivalry. Ellie is able to see her friend changing in such significant ways, but she finds all this too hard to understand. Homer comforted his friends while they were going through a hard time (p96, 97) which yet again was an incredible display of this leadership and the way he deals with situations. The rational thinking that Homer brings to the group helps all of them survive through the war. There were many situations that Homer took control, but by calming everyone down in such a serious point in the novel really showed that he was the leader of the group all