How does David Malouf use imagery to convey the central themes and ideas of his novel, Fly Away Peter?
Innocence. Migration. Transformation. War. All of these are the central ideas and themes are encased in the pages of Malouf’s novel, Fly Away Peter. The author conveys these intricate and profound themes using a multitude of techniques, such as structure, style, atmosphere, and tone. However, one of the predominant methods is imagery. Imagery is a vast and multi-faceted aspect of literature. It conjures an image in the audience’s mind, allowing them to fully understand the depth of a situation. By using vivid, imaginative and figurative language, the author is enabled to expand on a setting, interaction or description, and therefore expand …show more content…
Whether it be through an action, realisation, or interaction. Innocence is fragile. It is this fragile innocence and its destruction that is exhibited through the metaphor: ‘You entered the war through an ordinary looking gap in a hedge’ (Pg. 76). One moment, this purity is a fog surrounding one’s actions or thoughts, but through a somewhat menial and anticlimactic action, it is cleared and the dark truth is seen. A metaphor is used to assist in the creation of an image in the reader’s mind. This can be done by using something that a reader might be familiar with to assist in the understanding of a subject that one might not comprehend. In this case, the entrance to the war is hidden, similar to that of a gap in the hedge, again illustrating the fragility of innocence. The quote in question also illustrates the central idea of transformation, and how it can be unforeseen and impulsive. This quote illustrates a peaceful garden, lined with hedges and flowers; gardens are unpredictable. Without warning, the plant may wither and die, trees may lose their leaves and hollow out, much as Jim was hardened when he had advanced to fight in the trenches. However, soon the plants regulate and all returns to its peaceful state, just as Jim had regained his innocence in …show more content…
Where there is war, there is death, this is inevitable. It is this inevitable death that Malouf exemplifies in the metaphor ‘The deadly sewing machines were stitching their shrouds’ (Pg. 101). The reference to the sewing machines disguise the horror of reality. Due to the sound of a sewing machine, to the untrained ear it resembles that of a machine gun, masking the bloody certainty of war. With war comes death, and the mention of the shrouds indicates this. As the guns fire and people fight for their country, men fall to the ground dead, as the shrouds are stitched by the ‘sewing machines’ the brutal actuality of life on the front is realised. Malouf chooses his words carefully in this line, by using the notion of sewing machines, he cloaks them in innocence, and the assumption of serving a good-natured purpose, that is not the case. Shrouds are used to cover the dead upon the event of their burial, and their use in this context is jarring. Men fall to the ground, often their bodies are never recovered and they are left forgotten, the shroud haunts them, taunting them with the illusion of peace and reunion with loved ones
Innocence. Migration. Transformation. War. All of these are the central ideas and themes are encased in the pages of Malouf’s novel, Fly Away Peter. The author conveys these intricate and profound themes using a multitude of techniques, such as structure, style, atmosphere, and tone. However, one of the predominant methods is imagery. Imagery is a vast and multi-faceted aspect of literature. It conjures an image in the audience’s mind, allowing them to fully understand the depth of a situation. By using vivid, imaginative and figurative language, the author is enabled to expand on a setting, interaction or description, and therefore expand …show more content…
Whether it be through an action, realisation, or interaction. Innocence is fragile. It is this fragile innocence and its destruction that is exhibited through the metaphor: ‘You entered the war through an ordinary looking gap in a hedge’ (Pg. 76). One moment, this purity is a fog surrounding one’s actions or thoughts, but through a somewhat menial and anticlimactic action, it is cleared and the dark truth is seen. A metaphor is used to assist in the creation of an image in the reader’s mind. This can be done by using something that a reader might be familiar with to assist in the understanding of a subject that one might not comprehend. In this case, the entrance to the war is hidden, similar to that of a gap in the hedge, again illustrating the fragility of innocence. The quote in question also illustrates the central idea of transformation, and how it can be unforeseen and impulsive. This quote illustrates a peaceful garden, lined with hedges and flowers; gardens are unpredictable. Without warning, the plant may wither and die, trees may lose their leaves and hollow out, much as Jim was hardened when he had advanced to fight in the trenches. However, soon the plants regulate and all returns to its peaceful state, just as Jim had regained his innocence in …show more content…
Where there is war, there is death, this is inevitable. It is this inevitable death that Malouf exemplifies in the metaphor ‘The deadly sewing machines were stitching their shrouds’ (Pg. 101). The reference to the sewing machines disguise the horror of reality. Due to the sound of a sewing machine, to the untrained ear it resembles that of a machine gun, masking the bloody certainty of war. With war comes death, and the mention of the shrouds indicates this. As the guns fire and people fight for their country, men fall to the ground dead, as the shrouds are stitched by the ‘sewing machines’ the brutal actuality of life on the front is realised. Malouf chooses his words carefully in this line, by using the notion of sewing machines, he cloaks them in innocence, and the assumption of serving a good-natured purpose, that is not the case. Shrouds are used to cover the dead upon the event of their burial, and their use in this context is jarring. Men fall to the ground, often their bodies are never recovered and they are left forgotten, the shroud haunts them, taunting them with the illusion of peace and reunion with loved ones