Fly Away Peter Analysis

Brian Dwyer in his examination of Fly Away Peter has done so by focusing on the contrasting imagery of the wilderness of the bush to those of the trenches. Chitra Nair looks at the characters as developed into open canvases. Damien Barlow in contrast seeks to understand the underlying homoerotic elements that lay beneath the surface of the story. To understand how the story addresses the question of national discourse may take all three sources.

Brian Dwyer in his consideration of David Malouf’s’ book Fly away Peter he explores the contrast of the rural environment to that of the trenches. He refers to the image of those who were raised in the bush as already seasoned as to adversity as compared to the British soldiers who were described as

(Dwyer, 1997). Thus creating a hetro-centric idea of what it means to be an Australian Male.

When Dwyer moves his focus from the character development within the environment of the sanctuary to that of the trench warfare, he brings into play a range of literary comparisons. There is a comparison made by Dwyer of the romanticised image of the Australian rural male to that of the soldier suffering in the trenches (Dwyer, 1997). As, the harsh environment, is seen to bring out in many of the men the harshness of their instinct for survival. Which is an aspect, as expressed by Dwyer, Jim struggles with (Dwyer, 1997).

In Nair’s examination of Malouf’s book she looks at the juxtaposition of opposites. These are expressed in a range of ways. Jim may be seen to represent the land as a place of wisdom. While Ashley is described as a classic European male, where he sees the land as ready to be tamed and

Nair’s description of Jim and Ashley creates a contrast to the standard consideration of the male relatedness. She formulates an ideal, based on the story that creates an image of Jim and Ashley as soul mates that goes contrary to the standard concept of the Australian national discourse.

Damien Barlow looks at the underlying homoerotic elements within the story. Barlow believes this understated same sex or homosexual undertones can be found as a subdued implication found “particularly prevalent in some of Malouf’s novels, notably Fly Away Peter (Barlow, 2011). The “numinous quality of their same-sex desire is captured in Ashley’s epiphanic[sic] flight of ideas” are expressed and found contained within his experiences of traversing the sanctuary waters with Jim (Barlow, 2011). This creates a dynamically different and complex explanation of the male identity as an incompatible image of Australian