The novel break of day, written by tony palmer, follows the story of Murray as he comes across the
challenges of war and life on the farm. The novel tells a great story of a young boy’s life, but this
story proved to be less of a fictitious tale and more of a personal lesson as palmer presented his
views on death, family secrets and bravery. He used character like uncle jack, Murray, will and Sid to
present key themes and present an opinion.
One of the themes that palmer not only included but expanded on in the novel was bravery.
Throughout the story characters such as Murray, will and Sid learnt what bravery means in instances
like Murray not being brave enough to shoot paddy, will taking a punch from Sid, and Murray not
running from the “japs”. Palmer used
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Palmer also showed that bravery can also
mean saying no, just as Murray did when refusing to kill paddy.
Another key theme palmer uses is when he talks about life in “Hammersley”. There palmer talks
about uncle jack’s big secret and how it affected the likes of will and Murray. This is brought up
when the boys find a box with photos, certificates and more in it which later made the brothers
confused about why other boys in the neighbourhood called their uncle a “coward”. The effect of
the bullying hurt the brothers and they started believing what others said about their uncle. It was
through the secret that uncle jack kept from his nephews that palmer showed how greatly secrets
among family members can affect people and how it can make them think less of you.
Palmer also displayed his views on death in break of day. Through the novel palmer interpreted life
both on the farm and at war but the deaths that occurred in both gave palmer the opportunity