Break Of Day Analysis

Tony Palmer is the author of the novel ‘Break of Day’. It’s about a boy

who goes of to war and the troubles he has at home. The first theme

palmer explores is bravery and how everyone is brave and a coward

in one way throughout the novel. The second theme Palmer explores

is death, and how we all experience death, loss and grief throughout

the book and in different ways. The final theme he explores is family

secrets and how every family have them. In the novel they are either

exposed or concealed to everyone.

In ‘Break of Day’ everyone displays bravery and cowardice in one

way or another, throughout the book Murray, Will, Sid and many

others displayed bravery but also cowardice. Murray showed great

bravery when he stood up for Sid when Will had him at gunpoint

Murray only hoped Will made it back safely.

All of these points show that death, grief and loss are a common thing

we deal with, and that we must keep going on with our lives.

Throughout the novel family secrets were exposed and concealed.

Every family had their secrets just some were bigger than others.

Uncle Jack never wanted to talk about his experiences of the war he

always concealed it. “[Uncle Jack’s] box hit the ground and it’s

contents spilled into the dry dust at the base of the tree.” The

problem with uncle Jack concealing that part of him was little things

got out, making him look like a coward even though he was not. Ada’s

family secret of her dad being an alcoholic was exposed to a few

people. “Who the hell are you to tell me what to do? He said angrily.

Without looking up, he threw the bottle he had been holding at me. It

was a feeble weak effort landing just short of my feet.” This shows

when you exposed things other people can try and help you deal with

it or make it hard and confusing for you to deal with. In the novel

‘Break of Day’ secrets were exposed and concealed leaving bits