Before Tommo discovers Charlie and Molly have been seeing each other, Tommo thought that they were not as close as Tommo would have liked them to be to him. If they all went out on a walk, Charlie and Molly would always end up infrount, leaving Tommo behind. It was then, Tommo started to get a bit suspicious. Later on in the book, Charlie was forbidden to see Molly because Molly’s parents thought that Charlie was a thief. Tommo began to be a ‘private postman’ for Charlie and Molly. No one new about these letters and Tommo was not just told not to tell anyone but he was also not aloud to read them. But over the past few weeks, there was less and less letters. Even though Tommo didn’t suspect anything, his mother did. “I’ve found them. I’ve read them, every one of them. So have Molly’s parents. The evidence is here, in these letters.” Mother, Molly’s parents and even Tommo was furious when they found out that Charlie and Molly have been seeing each other. Charlie explained everything. “I couldn’t believe what he was saying. They hadn’t told me. They’d been meeting in secret and neither of them had told me!” Tommo was really disappointed. They didn’t speak for days but then one day it got worse. Charlie had come home one day and had found Molly weeping on mothers lap. “They’ve thrown her out Charlie. Her mother and father have thrown her out and it’s your entire fault.” The family found out that Molly is having Charlie’s baby. Tommo and mother finally forgives Charlie as now Molly is apart of the Peaceful family.
When Charlie and Tommo are at was, their relationship is at their strongest point. Charlie tells the recruitment officer that Tommo is his twin to get him in the army. Luckily they both get in and that’s when it hits them that they are at war. Every battle they fought, Charlie and Tommos' relationship got stronger and stronger. The war was a frightening stage for them both. “You’ll be alright Tommo,” Charlie says. “You’ll be fine.” Charlie knows Tommo's thoughts. Letters home were sent, discussing what’s been happening. Charlie got shot in the foot at a battle but is ok. He gets to go home for some time to recover but now he is back fighting again with Tommo. Things start to get very serious with Charlie and Sergeant. Charlie is disobeying his rules. He is only doing this for Tommo because he got badly hurt and can’t manage to leave the dugout. For not following Sergeants rules, Charlie will now be punished. At the end of the novel, Charlie gets sent to prison until the court martial confirmed his punishment. Before Charlie knew it, he was sentenced to death. By that time, visitors were allowed to see him. Tommo was the first. Straight after Tommo had gone they sat either side of the table and shared a mug of sweet, strong tea and spoke about all their memories and by the time they had finished, the guard came in and told them their time was up. “We gripped hands across the table, put our foreheads together and closed our eyes. You’re not worthless Charlie. They’re the worthless bastards. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had, the best person I’ve ever known”. Tommo turns away and leaves Charlie for good. “When the time comes, I will go outside and I will look up at the sky because I know Charlie will be doing the same as they take him out. We’ll be seeing the same clouds, feeling the same breeze on our faces. At least that way we’ll be together”.
I think that Tommo feels that he lives in Charlie’s glow rather than his shadow because ever since Tommo started school, he always wanted to be like Charlie when he grew up and now I think Tommo feels like he has followed Charlie’s footsteps and is like Charlie now. I think he feels that he has to be more like Charlie ever before because Charlie’s baby is going to grow up without his dad and that Tommo feels he has to be in Charlie’s place for the baby.
Tommo and Charlie’s relationship has grown so much bigger because of all the events that have happened in their lives. The development is amazing despite the fact that Tommo found out about Charlie and Molly seeing each other. From the early stages of their life and Tommo and Charlie’s relationship was quite strong and as they grew up it got stronger and stronger. At one point, it was so strong that it seemed like they were a clone of each other like they were the same age; like twins. They had such a great relationship that it was upsetting reading the book when Charlie was killed. I think Tommo felt like he lived in Charlie’s shadow at the beginning of the book but became more independent when they went to war. I loved reading the book and I would definitely read it again!
