Coming of Age as a Writer during the War

In order to write, you must also read. Books from various time periods and about different topics helped expand a writers' imagination and helped them understand the many connotations of words. Briony had not learned or started to understand the different connotations of words when she first started to write. This section of books were on display in the replica 1940s house in the Imperial War Museum.

During some wars, such as the Cold War, people did not feel like they could write how they normally would in letters and stories. Instead of these regular forms of writing, people - especially young people - took to non-traditional forms. This piece of the Berlin Wall is on display outside of the Imperial War Museum. It shows how people anonymously expressed themselves through words and art.

Families got letters from loved ones in the war, whether they were involved in the fight or caught in the middle at home. This letter in the Imperial War Museum was written by Captain T Kerr of the Royal Navy on June 1, 1940 from Dunkirk. It is a joint letter to both his "Dear Adelaide and Gertie" because it will be "a long one" and would have been hard to write twice. He also writes that it is a narration instead of a letter. These are the types of letters that Robbie and Cecilia might have exchanged during the war.

Children also wrote letters, even those that were not involved in the war effort. Many children were evacuated out of London and did not know why. Some looked at it as a fun trip, while others were scared. In this letter from Roy Grimsley, he says that he is happy and will be starting school soon. Many evacuated children wrote back to their parents and relatives in London. Roy was evacuated to Bolton and wrote to his "Mum" in London. He asks about the family pets and asks for them to be mentioned in every letter to him. This is the childish voice that I envision Briony having at the beginning of the novel.

Children kept track of everything that was happening during the war. Even though some children may not have known exactly what was happening around them, many still wrote. These pages on display at the Imperial War Museum are from 1944 from the diary that Robert Wills kept. The boy draws and describes German V1 flying bombs that passed overhead.

Robert Wills was not the only person to keep a diary during the war. A young Jewish girl named Anne Frank kept a diary while she hid in her father's office building in Amsterdam. The diary she kept for 2 years during the war is one of the most widely-read books around the world. She is arguably the most famous young writer. Her diary is still read today by many people.