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Lost Property by James Maloney Essay example

Decent Essays

Lost Property by James Maloney is a young adult novel that deals with relationships teenagers may experience. The novel, narrated by Josh Tambling, a seventeen year old high school student, illustrates what he learns through the progression of the story about his relationships with other characters.
Josh learns that within a relationship, one must be completely honest to yourself and with other people.
Josh learns that in relationships, he must be honest with others. He learns this through his older brother Michael as he travels up to ‘find him, and bring him home’. Josh also learns that he can’t always control what happens when in a relationship. Josh also realizes not to jump to conclusions about things you don’t understand. …show more content…

“I sang. No, I yelled”, “wrenching words up from my lungs with an energy that was foreign to me. The strange thing was that it wasn’t so hard. All I had to do was put on an act”.(p106, 107)
This shows how Josh is aware that he is lying about who he is, though he doesn’t say anything until later in the novel about it as he didn’t want to let the boys in the band down.
Early in the novel Josh feels he must make everyone else happy rather than be honest with himself. This is seen through his relationship with the band and his father. After Josh returns from Mackay, he realizes he must be himself in order to feel happy. This is achieved when Josh confronts his father and his band members about how he actually feels
Josh also learns that he can’t always control what happens when in a relationship, like with his parents and with Alicia.
• Josh feels like his stuck in the middle of Michael and his parents.
• Hates the fact when Michael calls it hurts this mother Carol.
• “Mum stood staring at the lifeless phone in her hand. Then mum as crying, great wrenching sobs that racked her body and threw her off balance”
• Josh feels with his mother breaking down he must look after the family.
• Calming Hayley down after his parents fight.
• Ultimately leading him to make the decision about finding his brother
• “Hayley wasn’t in her own bed, she was sitting on mine, her knees up to her chin, arms

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