Tom and Kylie both react to Daniel’s incident in different ways. This sets them both along the path of depression. During the story, they both deal with their depression in their own ways, as they move to a new town and start a “new” life. Tom responds to the incident, with fear and guilt. After witnessing the crash, Tom was scared, he may have disliked Daniel at the time, but he was still his brother. Tom also cared about Fin, who because of Daniel, became a paraplegic. “I knew I had to stay with Fin, stay with the mess Daniel had made” (Burke 2005, p. 81). When Tom and his family move to Coghill, Tom tries to forget what happened, by making new friends and joining the school rugby team. However, Tom still felt he was being “sucked deeper into that long black tunnel” (Burke 2005, p. 51) of depression. On the night, it was Tom’s anger, that stopped him from preventing …show more content…
He gradually starts to return to his old self. Two way’s Tom overcomes his depression, is Rugby and his romance with Chrissy. Near the end of the book, Tom’s team from Coghill plays against St John’s Mumbilli. When Tom first came to Coghill, he wanted nothing to do with the school rugby team. Now, he was proud to play for Coghill, he enjoyed playing with his new friends, who also supported him with his depression, “The siren rang for full time, the score still 9-7 but you would’ve thought we were the winners.” (Burke 2005, p. 251). When Tom is around Chrissy, he feels he can be himself. When they get together, it is a way for Tom to escape his family and the darkness that surrounds him. Chrissy is what brings back the old Tom, “that was the morning Tom Brennan came back, forever.” (Burke 2005 p. 283). All of Tom’s family were deeply affected by Daniel’s incident. His sister Kylie also went through the stages of depression but responded to Daniel’s accident in a more open approach to