Reading and Responding: Year 10 English

The Story of Tom Brennan- Amy Faithfull

“The family is important in showing how a tragedy, such as the one that happened to the Brennan Family, can have dif ferent effects on people.”

Is this your understanding of the text?

Every person is an individual, and although each of the Brennans’ reaction to tragedy was individual, the effects all branch from the six stages of grief; de-nial, anger, guilt, depression, acceptance and growth. Not all members of the family displayed their progression through each of the stages, but each individual demonstrated a certain stage. The first stage of grief is denial, which was clearly displayed the family’s re-fusal to discuss what had happened to each of them and Tess’ strong insis-tence that the accident wasn’t Daniel’s fault. By refusing to converse with each other about the accident, the Brennan family were refusing to acknowl-edge the events and their new situation in Coghill. This was shown by the way they played the “tiptoe game”; a way of avoiding speaking about im-portant information. Tom believed he “[didn’t] feel the need to blab” be-cause he and Kylie did “all that crap ... back home with the counsellor” (pg87), and that, “There was no point talking about it, ‘cause there was noth-ing to gain,” (pg85). After visiting him, Brendan “didn’t want to say how bad Fin really was because it’d upset [Joe],” and Joe “couldn’t tell Brendan, or anyone for that matter, what state Daniel was in” (pg83). If “[they] weren’t playing tiptoe ... [Tom] wished [they] were” (pg87). Tess demonstrated denial differently when she questioned Tom about the circumstances of the acci-dent; whether Tom was “sure it was Daniel who was driving,” or Daniel who started the fight. (shown on pgs105-6). Denial is a defense mechanism; once a person has recognized that they cannot continue denying the facts, they can move on to the second stage of grief. Once in the stage of anger, the Brennan family manifested anger at either themselves, or with each other. Kylie Brennan showed her anger through re-bellion, by taking up smoking and wearing heavy eye makeup (beginning of pg111). She was subconsciously punishing her family because she didn’t “think they cared when they dragged [her] to Coghill” (pg86). When Tom questioned her, she said she’d “been smoking for ages. [He] just [hadn’t] noticed” (pg86). She later confessed to being “so angry at Daniel” because “what he did [had] ruined everything,” for herself and Tom (pg189). Carmel was a prime example of anger at her family, particularly Daniel. She be-lieved that there was “not point indulging in self-pity”(pg63), because “life goes on” (pg4). She created a scrapbook with newspaper clippings about the accident (bottom of pg164) and told Father Vincent that the only way he could help her family was to “pray for them - and while [he’s] there, pray for the soul of their son Daniel” (pg12). Tom knew he wasn’t supposed to take his anger out on his family, but “no matter how hard [he] tried, it got hold of [him] before [he] had a change to get a hold on it” (pg36). During an argu-ment with Kylie he described how “the anger scolded [his] insides as it bub-

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bled and spewed up [his] throat” (pg36). When the anger lessened, each character tried to make sense of what happened, with the only logical an-swer being it was their fault. Guilt is a way of making sense of what has happened by blaming oneself. Each member of family harbored some guilt for the cause of the accident. Tess believed she could have stopped Daniel from making such a huge mis-take and blamed herself for not being able to control him (pg230). She showed this when she asked Tom, “What did I do wrong with my first born?” (pg85). Tom had been harboring guilt for walking away from Daniel the night of the accident. He confessed to Kylie that he’d “wanted [Daniel] to really, really stuff things up. Then pay for it big time” and that, “if [he’d] hung around, [he] could have stopped him from getting into that car” (pg228). Kylie admitted to Tom that if she’d “minded [her] own business and didn’t go in there playing matchmaker” then Daniel would have not felt the need to pick a fight with Fin (pg227). She felt responsible for the fight and had “tried to be tough, but inside she’d been cracking up” (pg228). Joe knew that what had happened was not his fault, but felt an eternal debt towards Kath and Fin. He tried to compensate by paying for everything in Fin’s new apart-ment, all the while acknowledging that they’d “never be able to repay the debt” (pg259). When the reality of what happened set in and that blaming someone else was futile, each of the Brennans settled into depression.There are different types and degrees of depression, ranging from sadness to clinical depression with suicidal tendencies. Tess, Tom and Brendan demonstrate various stages of depression. Although she was not diagnosed, Tess showed many symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Clinical Depression, such as her loss of interest, depressed state, her inabil-ity to move from her bed for days at a time. Tom described her as “an old person - stale and still” (pg84). Tom spoke repetitively about a black hole, tunnel or curtain which “had no beginning and no end” (pg126) and would “choke [his] breath and squeeze [his] brain” (pg90). He explained how “there was nothing in [his] blood” because he “could feel the emptiness pumping in [his] veins” (pg114). The sadness that Brendan had was masked well by the strong front he put up. When Tom observes Brendan drinking heavily, crying and listening to ‘Daniel’ by Elton John (pg237) he discovers “Brendan’s tears could have been any of [their’s]” (pg238). Depression could be referred to as a rehearsal for the aftermath, as it is a form of acceptance with emotional attachment. Acceptance is the second last stage of grief. In this stage, individuals come to terms with what happened and the lack of control they possess over the situation. Tom shows that he accepted he couldn’t have helped Daniel when he explains to Kylie how “[Daniel] was on a self-destruct mission” (pg228). “Dan always did what he wanted to do” and maybe he was “always going to do something like this” and that “maybe he had to fall this far” (pg230). Tess displayed signs of acceptance when she made dinner for the family. Tom knew “they were only omelettes” but it was “the most she’d cooked in ages” (middle pg236). Kylie showed she’d accepted Fin’s new situation when she told Tom she wouldn’t leave Aralan until Fin was “settled and the flat and she he was going to be okay” (pg262)Acceptance is about using the lessons we learned in life to come to terms with the realities of the world, on our own terms.The final stage of grief is growth, which is an opportunity to use the lessons learnt through the first five stages to start anew. Tom was the only member

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of the Brennan family to progress far enough through the stages of grief to experience the chance for personal growth. He demonstrates his new found wisdom when he explains to Kylie how “we’ll never be the same, but that doesn’t mean it has to be bad. Just different” (pg231).Each member of the Brennan family underwent a journey after the tragedy caused by Daniel Brennan. Each individual journey showed how although tragedy effects people differently, the effects all branch from the six stages of grief.

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