Pat Barker, the author of Border Crossing, explores the central theme of questioning if people can really change. Set in the 2000’s in England, the novel is a psychological thriller which follows the story of a child killer named Danny Miller, put into prison by Tom Seymour, who is put into a correctional institute and comes out of prison with a new identity. Barker conveys this theme to an audience of intelligent adults, as she utilises a variety of techniques to convey the element of people not being able to change. Barker conveys this element in the forms of characterisation, narrative perspective and symbolism.
In her novel Border Crossing, Barker utilises a set of characters to convey how people cannot change for the better. The set of …show more content…
Barker conveys the symbols as they represent how Danny was not able to change from the attitude he created when he was younger as a child killer who controlled other people. The symbol of fire is utilised, as it influenced the dark side of Danny, with the manipulation and power he tried to control the people that came into his life after his father walked away from his life. It is symbolised as a border in which he could not cross, as Danny becomes ‘incapable of blowing the match out’, signifying how Danny was incapable to change from his old, ‘manipulative’ self. Furthermore, fire is also utilised with how Danny burned Tom as he tried to kill him, signifying how Danny never really changed from his child killing persona, but when Tom did not turn Danny in for attempting to kill him, it confirmed how faire also manipulated other people to change for the worst. The audience is able to understand the utilisation of fire, with how it became the influence of the power that Danny tried to have control of, but he actually had no control over it as it made him incapable from changing. Through symbolism, Barker is able to convey how Danny was prevented from changing from his previous attitude.
Barker throughout Border Crossing is able to convey to her audiences the reasons for people changing. The characters was utilised with how even with Danny’s new identity with Ian was not able to
In her novel Border Crossing, Barker utilises a set of characters to convey how people cannot change for the better. The set of …show more content…
Barker conveys the symbols as they represent how Danny was not able to change from the attitude he created when he was younger as a child killer who controlled other people. The symbol of fire is utilised, as it influenced the dark side of Danny, with the manipulation and power he tried to control the people that came into his life after his father walked away from his life. It is symbolised as a border in which he could not cross, as Danny becomes ‘incapable of blowing the match out’, signifying how Danny was incapable to change from his old, ‘manipulative’ self. Furthermore, fire is also utilised with how Danny burned Tom as he tried to kill him, signifying how Danny never really changed from his child killing persona, but when Tom did not turn Danny in for attempting to kill him, it confirmed how faire also manipulated other people to change for the worst. The audience is able to understand the utilisation of fire, with how it became the influence of the power that Danny tried to have control of, but he actually had no control over it as it made him incapable from changing. Through symbolism, Barker is able to convey how Danny was prevented from changing from his previous attitude.
Barker throughout Border Crossing is able to convey to her audiences the reasons for people changing. The characters was utilised with how even with Danny’s new identity with Ian was not able to