preview

Essay On Fly Away Peter

Decent Essays

In his novella Fly Away Peter, David Malouf challenges the necessity of war through various stylistic conventions. Throughout the novel, an anti-war perception is evoked for readers through the hostile loss of innocence and the dishonour and disrespect to human life that are both forcefully posed by the prospect of war. Ultimately, through Jim’s perspective, Malouf guides readers to question the construct of war and the purpose it brings to society. Malouf makes anti-war statements through visual imagery and anaphora to showcase the key idea of the confrontational, dehumanising, and forceful loss of innocence triggered in the context of war. Malouf illustrates Jim taking cover in a hole aghast to meet a transformed Whizzer; a once savage man …show more content…

95) By forcing the audience to picture the scene through his employment of visual and kinaesthetic imagery, Malouf immediately juxtaposes the man Wizzer once was to who he now is, painting a picture of the irreparable changes and psychological effects war can bring upon people in which they have no control over. Not only is he in clear emotional distress, but he seems to have had a transformative experience leading to traumatic shellshock. Similarly, Malouf portrays this same idea through anaphoric repetition when referring to the soldiers as “they”. Throughout the novel, the audience becomes comfortable with knowing Jim and Clancy by name and description, but Malouf reminds readers that “they were soldiers like the rest. They were men.” (pg. 1). 81) Through the repetitive use of them, Malouf demonstrates the anonymity of being a soldier; all the same, not heroic, and with their death painted by the number of statistics. The individuality of each person has been stripped from them, where they are dehumanised and become the same soldier, continuing to maintain the repetitive cycle of replacing those who have died in the cruel randomness of wartime …show more content…

Malouf outlined this concept by stating war to be an “immense and murderous machine. that would require more and more men to work it, more and more blood to keep it running” (pg. 106. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. By metaphorically comparing war to an overbearing and destructive machine, Malouf forces readers to contextualise war as a relentless, unstoppable force that transcends rational control. He further signifies that soldiers are dispensable pawns who are forced to sacrifice their lives as fuel to keep the machine running. Due to this powerful comparison, the audience can recognise war as no more than an unwarranted, continuous, and murderous construct akin to a machine with no function. Additionally, Malouf further conveys this same idea through diction to establish a critical tone. As Imogen reflects on her memories of Jim, she recognises that during his time as a soldier “all those days had gathered towards nothing but his senseless and brutal extinction”. 140).

Get Access