Homer Yannos is portrayed, at the beginning of the text, as being mischievous and a trouble-maker, a reckless immature joker before the invasion. He was always acting out and getting into trouble at school, and with the law. Homer used to be renowned for being the 'class clown' and a rebel, but the war changed all that. He is a loveable character and Ellie has a soft spot for him, especially as they have spent a lot of time together throughout their childhood. They both have competitive natures though, and are always trying to outdo each other, but because he is physically developed and he is one of the biggest guys in the group, to outdo him proves to be extremely difficult in the majority of cases. “I tried to push him into the creek, but he was too strong.” Ellie p. 7

The transformation from 'Homer the Delinquent' to 'Homer the General' was something that seemed to take the rest of the group by surprise, but this is a War and you can't expect any the normal rules to apply. His character, however, rapidly becomes entirely different – Homer turns into a strong, responsible teacher and he is extremely serious about surviving. This is shown in the text when Homer speaks to the others about their situation. “We’ve just got to become totally nocturnal and triple-check everyone…we should get more supplies in and make it a proper headquarters…organising rations…living off the land [we’ve got to become] a guerrilla outfit.” This quote shows that Homer is serious about their situation and knows what needs to be done in order to survive – a major contrast and change from his playful personality at the text’s beginning, where Homer is described by Ellie as “the guy who wasn’t even trusted to hand out the books at school.”

Homer continues to transform from being immature to mature as his skills for being a natural born leader emerge and grow from strength to strength. At the end of the novel we find Homer being the commander of the group, devising plans and giving people orders. Ellie says about Homer’s latest plan to blow up a bridge in Wirrawee to stop enemy movements, “It was a high risk plan, but a brilliant one.” From start to finish in the novel Homer grows into a trusted, responsible leader who is very mature and quick thinking. This is all because of a change in Homer’s environment and circumstances. No longer can he run around and play games as he could before the war started.