Into_the_World

Another important person to help Tom is Chrissie. He falls in love with her, and she helps him to feel happy in his new world. The novel ends with the beginning of an intimate relationship, “that was the morning we swam and loved each other, and that was the morning Tom Bennan came back forever.” By the end of the novel not only has Tom entered a new world, but others around him were also progressing. Daniel himself improves and is able to apologise and take responsibility for his actions. Tom’s mother is able to make her special apple sauce for his birthday, showing the beginning of an emotional recovery. Kylie finds comfort in new friends, and Fin moves to the beach to begin a long process of recovery. However, the reader is most aware of Tom’s journey because it is his story that is told as a first person narrative. Burke makes an interesting choice in choosing as the narrator someone not directly involved in the accident. By doing this we can see how such an event has far reaching consequences. An interesting technique Burke uses to maintain reader interest is the way she reveals details of the accident slowly. The first half of the book uses flashes backs to untangle the story behind the Brennan’s decision to leave their old world. As Tom finds increasing acceptance in the new one, there are fewer flashbacks. Using a seventeen year old boy as the narrator allows Buke to use colloquial language, a way of making her story more appealing.