Homer Yannos

Character profile for Homer Yannos from the Tomorrow series by John Marsden

Reptile, troublemaker, problem, slob, loud mouth, macho, wild, crazy, immature; Homer Yannos is all of
those things. He is also; a leader, a thinker, a planner as well as careful, innovative, caring, supportive, brave
and indomitable.

In his teenage years Homer Yannos has built a front to hide behind, a front as a disrespectful, insensitive,
uncaring guy. It takes a lot to crack that shell, but the first crack does not come from a smashing blow,
instead from a refined and delicate girl. Fi gets round his defences and Ellie is stunned by the realisation that
she has let one of her best friends trick her for years about who he really is. The next blow is smashing, the
end of all they know, the destruction of their previous lives, the return from Hell to find disaster. Faced with
this, and the group's desperate need; Homer has to drop the pretence of years, discard the stereotype he has
hidden behind and show who he really is; a leader with the capacity to inspire, to encourage, to invigorate.
He astonishes everyone with his level headed approach, though the wildness in his heart is still there - a
wildness he uses to innovate, outthink and surprise. He saves the group, he gets them going, he inspires, he
supports and he encourages.

Extract 1: Ellie realises she has let Homer trick her for years as to who he is.

"Tomorrow, When The War Began" p44

"It was the same with Homer, the way for all those years he'd been hanging a big sign around his neck,
and like a fool I'd kept reading it."

Extract 2: Homer's transformation

"Tomorrow, When The War Began" p104

"Homer was becoming more surprising with every passing hour. It was getting hard to remember that
this fast-thinking guy, who'd just spent fifteen minutes getting us laughing and talking and feeling good
again, wasn't even trusted to hand out the books at school"

"Tomorrow, When The War Began" p111

[Homer] "He leaned forward. 'Here's what I suggest. They load Corrie's Toyota with everything useful
they can find. Then they go to Kevin's and do the same. And to my place and Ellie's if there's time. They pick
up the Land Rover at Kevin's and fill it too. I'm talking food, clothes, petrol, rifles, tools, everything. By
dawn we want to have two vehicles fuelled up, packed to their roofs and ready to go'
'To go where?' Kevin asked.
'To Hell' Homer answered.
That was Homer's genius. He combined action with thought, and he planned ahead. He sensed, I think,
that inaction was our enemy. Anyone seeing us at that moment would not have thought we were in the most
desperate positions of our lives. We were all sitting up excitedly, faces flushed and eyes gleaming. We had
things to do, positive definite things. It suddenly seemed so obvious that if we had a future, it would be in
Hell. And we began to realise that there might still be a life for us."

"Tomorrow, When the War Began" p138

[Homer]"'Problem two then. Where would we get it?'
Robyn interrupted. I'd forgotten she hadn't seen Homer in action at Corrie's.
' Homer, are you on something?'
' Sorry?'
' You keep going like this, you'll lose your reputation, Aren't you meant to be just a wild and crazy guy?'
He laughed, but then went straight back to being serious. Robyn made a face at me and I winked back"

"Tomorrow, When the War Began" p152

"Lee laughed. 'Homer hasn't changed.'
'Yes he has.'
'Has he? I'll be interested to see that. He's a pretty smart guy, Homer'"

"Tomorrow, When the War Began" p140

"Homer looked at me, eyes shining with joy. I realised the wild and crazy guy wasn't so far away. 'We
pick him up in the shovel,' he said, and waited for our reactions."

Extract 3: And every so often they drop the games

"Tomorrow, When the War Began", p62

"Homer nodded, his face full of misery. I wanted to hug him, looked for Fi to see if she might be going to,
then went ahead when I realised she'd left the room again."

"Tomorrow, When The War Began" p94

"I stopped in front of the Mackenzies' porch and stood there, trying to find the energy to lift my foot and
get off the bike. I stood there for a long time. I knew eventually I'd have to raise that leg but I didn't know
when I would be able to do it. Finally Homer said kindly, 'Come on Ellie', and I was ashamed of my
weakness and managed to stumble off the bike and even wheel it into the shed."

Extract 4: Homer is, however, a guy's guy

"Tomorrow, When The War Began", p213

"'He so down on himself,' she complained. 'Everything I say about him he brushes off or puts himself
down. Do you know', she looked at me with her big innocent eyes, 'he's got some weird thing about my
parents being solicitors, and living in that stupid big house. He always used to joke about it, especially when
we went there the other night, but I don't think it's really a joke to him at all.'
'Oh Fi! How long did it take you to work that out?'
'Why? Has he said something to you?' She instantly became terribly worried, in her typical Fi way. I was
a bit caught, because I wanted to protect Homer and I didn't want to break any confidences. So I tried to
give a few hints.
'Well, your lifestyle's a lot different to his. And you know the kind of blokes he's always knocked around
with at school. They'd be more at home hanging out at the milk bar than playing croquet with your parents.'
'My parents do not play croquet.'
'No, but you know what I mean.'
 'Oh, I don't know what to do. He seems scared to say anything in case I laughed at him or look down my
nose at him. As if I ever would. It seems so funny that he's like that with me when he's so confident with
everyone else.'
I sighed. 'If I could understand Homer I'd understand all guys.'"