Fly Away Peter Essay

The identity of a character can be discovered in many aspects of their contextual and intellectual characteristics determining who or what they are to become. In David Malouf’s 1982 novella Fly Away Peter, Jim Saddler is an employed twitcher in Queensland 1914, one of many young Australians searching for their purpose in life as the war to end all wars breaks out pulling them all in to the trenches. Jim’s search for identity is represented largely through his actions and interactions with others, as well as his thoughts and interests. Malouf presents particular ideas about identity and how it is shaped in his novel, looking particularly at the identity of Jim pre-war and post-war, also the identity possessed by Ashley Crowther with his foreign

The novel, The Machine Gunners by Robert Westall tells the story of an adolescent boy and his friends. Westall's novel gives an interesting account of the bombings of an English town during World War II. Constant exposure to the atrocities of war forces the main characters in The Machine Gunners to grow up too quickly. Chas McGill attempts to survive in a confusing world by exercising some control over his corner of Garmouth. His inability to stay a passive child in the face of terror results in his transition from a naive collector of war souvenirs to a leader of an underground fortress. Robert Westall provides vivid and realistic descriptions of the bombings and their aftermath. Chas safely collects pieces of shrapnel in the streets but also comes face-to-face with a disfigured, and decaying German soldier. Westall’s novel explores the theme of war through adolescent eyes and highlights the need to support one another during difficult times.

David Malouf's novel ‘Fly Away Peter’ charts out the life of protagonist, Jim Sadler. Jim Sadler starts the novel as an innocent young man who lives on the Coast of Queensland. As Jim shows his love and appreciation for birds, he ends up getting a job at a sanctuary owned by Ashley Crawthaw. His job was to watch for the birds that migrated to and from the sanctuary. Throughout the novel the readers are taken on the journey that Jim faces, from the innocence of a young adult to the horror and brutality of the war. At the beginning of the novel the audience is introduced to Jim while he is gazing in the far distance to where the swamp ended and the farmlands began(Malouf, D. Pg.1). Jim’s love for birds was strong, everything about them just amazed him - he could sit for hours and watch them while naming each as he proceeded into the day. By being in the sanctuary, Jim is protected from the harsh reality of the outside world. Having grown up in the country, he is oblivious to how cruel the world is. Once exposing himself to the outside world and goes to the town centre, without much awareness regarding the war, he feels pressured to join the War Effort. Jim is aware of the need to extend his experiences within life and acknowledges the changes that war will certainly bring. On Jim’s arrival to the trenches he is hit with the harsh reality he thought he would never understand. Being so distant from the

In the incredible book, All Quiet on the Western Front written by Erich Maria Remarque, the reader follows Paul Baumer, a young man who enlisted in the war. The reader goes on a journey and watches Paul and his comrades face the sheer brutality of war. In this novel, the author tries to convey the fact that war should not be glorified. Through bombardment, gunfire, and the gruesome images painted by the author, one can really understand what it would have been like to serve on the front lines in the Great War. The sheer brutality of the war can be portrayed through literary devices such as personification, similes, and metaphors.

It is often difficult to relate to events that occur in the past, but if we can find similarities between the past and present, we can better understand history. Joseph Boyden, author of the novel Three Day Road, examines the similarities between the present and past through a first person narrative of two indigenous soldiers in World War One. The events that the two soldiers experience are the same as today’s soldiers, and it also affects them in a similar manner. The emotional and physical effects of war on soldiers make Three Day Road pertinent to the present time and circumstance.

Timothy Findley’s novel, The Wars, presents a thought-provoking narration of World War 1 occurrences which follows a 19-year--old Canadian officer, Robert Ross, who responds to the dehumanization and horror of the trench warfare with deeds of sedition that could be interpreted as life-affirming acts of love and heroism. Ross enlists himself in the world war in 1915 as an aftermath of the death of his older sister to escape the social norms and his grief of the repressive Victorian society (Tumanov). In his narration, Findley explains how Ross is drawn into the war as he commits his last act to declare his vow to a life that stares to death. The author takes the readers through his unique writing

There is certainly no doubt that Jim and Ashley are brought together by their appreciation of nature. Ashley has 'a quiet respect for the things Jim also respected', and the reader is made aware of the bond and mutual respect each feels for the other. These three characters, despite their social differences, easily relate through the birds. Ashley provides Jim with a place in the world through the sanctuary, and Imogen helps Jim to secure his place within the sanctuary through her photographs and the book. Ashley and Imogen are certainly significant factors in Jim's journey. They play a part in his final understanding and affirmation of self, in that they are encouraging influences upon Jim and help him to appreciate himself, however they are not the sole deciding factors in Jim's comprehension of life.

‘No doubt they’ll soon get well; the shock and the strain / have caused their stammering, disconnected talk,’ writes Siegfried Sassoon in the poem Survivors (1917). Sassoon’s irony in these lines condense a prevalent view of non-combatants during the First World War that the soldiers would recover from their physical injuries and mental illness after the phase of shock had concluded. In the short story Speed the Plough (1923), Mary Butts articulates scepticism towards the idea that Shell Shock will simply pass. Instead of employing the habitual indicators of war, the story showcases Butts’s fixation in avoiding them. Modernist writers, such as Butts, were interested in innovation and experimentation with language to create new forms of expression. The following analysis will explore how the modernist aesthetics shape this passage in order to express the experience of war but avoid recurring to the same language that explicitly evokes it.

In Fly Away Peter, Jim’s interest for birds, trigger his curiosity, which leads him to wonder about life outside of Ashley’s sanctuary. It is this point in the novel that he realises his ‘state of dangerous innocence’, influencing Jim’s decision to join the war as a soldier on the Western Front. Malouf depicts colourful and descriptive imagery of the sanctuary to emphasise that Jim’s conserved innocence within the realms of the sanctuary and makes Jim realise the inexperience he has with life beyond this boundary. Jim’s “journey”, as seen through the trenches, ironically, allows him to be “enlightened” by experience ‘into the dark side of his head’ in contrast to the shining sunlight of the sanctuary. Conrad also conveys a similar idea in Heart of Darkness where, unlike Jim, Marlow is an experienced man who is intrigued by the ‘blank space of delightful mystery’ on his map.

Through the manipulation of point of view Malouf explores the personal journey from innocence to experience and becoming self-actualised. A third person point of view allows the author to narrate as Jim undertakes his journey into manhood and is exposed to the harsh realities of life. Initially he is an innocent bird watcher with his only concern being to discover new species and document them as his own. Although when it comes to life in the trenches, it is not straightforward, writing in his diary Jim notes that he is surrounded by a world of bullets, rifles, machine-guns and bloody, mutilated bodies. Descriptive language is used while describing the horrors of war and traumas the men must face, for Jim was, breathless, and still trembling,

In the novel Fly Away Peter, David Malouf explores the individual’s ability to transcend the immediate, and create ‘other worlds’ of his or her own:

This chapter as the beginning of the book sets the scene and begins to develop the characters of the novel. The story begins with Jim in the swampland watching birds calmly, looking at how they live their lives, remembering that these small birds have seen more of the world than most people, "has been further and higher than even that clumsy plane" (p.3). As a respectful intruder into the birds' territories, Jim feels that nature is in balance before he notices a biplane begins making circles above the swampland.

Laying in the sands of destruction and despair, a boy, a leader, a man, weeped with more courage than those who didn’t. The novel, Lord of The Flies takes place during World War II, a destructive, moral breaking war (from 1939 to 1945), the war had a huge impact on William Golding and his book. William Golding was a British novelist, who wrote many award winning books and Nobel Prize winning book, “Lord Of The Flies”. One of Golding’s main inspiration for writing this book was the novel “The Coral Island” (by R. M. Ballantyne) and his own experience in the war, both helped shaped the book into what it is. Throughout the novel, Ralph (One of the main characters) struggles with the savage that lives within himself, the loss of civilization,

Throughout Peter and the Starcatcher a variety of technical elements are employed to enhance the meaning and understanding of the play. For example, music appeared throughout the play in many forms. It took the shape of sound effects and full-on musical numbers, similar to that of a musical. Sound effects were very important to the play as it directed the audience’s attention to what was occurring on stage. This was especially helpful for the audience throughout the scene in which Molly is exploring the ship, in search for the pigs. Throughout this scene, actors were used as the walls and doors separating Molly from different rooms of the ship. Lighting and sound effects were used to represent Molly opening the door to new rooms. As she pushed

In David Malouf’s novel Fly Away Peter, he expresses many ideas in regards to life and nature. Through this he is able to write a story that expresses a balance between good and bad through the use of nature and factitious items. When reading this novel, I was encouraged to reflect on my ideas and experiences of humanity living in harmony with nature, the importance of individuality, and the importance of making good decisions. Humanity living in harmony with nature is an idea within Fly Away Peter which I have thought deeply about when reading this novel.