Themes
In his book John Marsden: Darkness, Shadow, and Light John Noell Moore, associate professor of English at The College of William & Mary, identifies several significant themes of the series; the transition from innocence to experience; the power of the Australian landscape; understanding the past as a way of dealing with the present and preparing for the future; and writing and storytelling and how they shape identity.
The transition from innocence to experience is shown in transformations in Ellie’s thinking and her changing notions towards leadership and courage to as the series progresses. Ellie’s reasons for chronicling her experiences also develop throughout the series. She starts out recording for the group who don’t want to die unnoticed and forgotten and continues writing for herself to better understand her own thoughts and feelings. Later on she writes to recreate the past which has become a lost world to her and preserve the lessons that she has learnt from it. The Australian bush becomes "a symbol of stability in a world that seems to be disintegrating". Its presence gives hope to the characters throughout the series.
Other notable themes in the series are the role of family and friendship; sexual maturation and the conflicting worldviews of teenagers and adults.
Read more about this topic: Tomorrow Series
Famous quotes containing the word themes:
“In economics, we borrowed from the Bourbons; in foreign policy, we drew on themes fashioned by the nomad warriors of the Eurasian steppes. In spiritual matters, we emulated the braying intolerance of our archenemies, the Shi’ite fundamentalists.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)
“I suppose you think that persons who are as old as your father and myself are always thinking about very grave things, but I know that we are meditating the same old themes that we did when we were ten years old, only we go more gravely about it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)