Novel âthe Story of Tom Brennanâ by J.C Burke
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In the novel âThe Story of Tom Brennanâ by J.C Burke a fatal accident faced the Brennan Family. They were faced with tragedy and the consequences all branch from six themes of grief; denial, anger, guilt, depression, acceptance and growth. Each member of the Brennanâs progressed through these stages however not all displayed the theme.
The first theme demonstrated was denial, which was displayed when the familyâs refusal to converse about what had happened to each member and Tessâs vigorous insistence that the incident was in fact not Danielâs fault. By refusing to discuss with one another about the accident the family were dismissing the events and their situation in Coghill. This was displayed by the way they avoided speaking about important information it was as though they were playing a âtip toeâ game. Tom believed he âdidnât feel the need to blabâ because he and Kylie did âall that crap ⊠back home with the councilorâ (pg87) and that âthere was no point talking about it, cause there was nothing to gainâ (pg85). Following visiting Daniel, Brendan âdidnât want to say how bad Fin really was because it would upset Dadâ and Dad âcouldnât tell Brendan, or probably anyone for that matter, what state Daniel was inâ (pg83). If âthey werenât playing tip toe ⊠Tom whished they wereâ (pg87). Denial was demonstrated differently by Tess when she questioned Tom about the conditions of the accident she asked whether Tom was âsure it was Daniel who was drivingâ or âDaniel who started the fightâ (pg105). Denial is a defense instrument; once a person has realized that they can no longer continue denying the facts they advance on to the second stage of grief.