A New Kind of Dreaming Essay

688 Words2 Pages

A New Kind of Dreaming is a novel written by Anthony Eaton, about a teenage boy, Jamie Riley, being referred to rural Western Australia where, he meets new friends, enemies and also discovers a shocking secret about the towns head police officer. The pressure to find out the secret puts Jamie in a great deal of trouble, from being frightened by the police, blamed for a fire and vandalism offences and even going missing in the desert. The characters have authority or are defenceless. Elliot Butcher, the township’s policeman has the most authority in the novel. He uses this control over the whole town and constantly uses for abuse and blackmail. Sgt. Butcher yells at the constable, Officer Robb, and his influence forces Robb to abuse Jamie and put him in the back of the Police Ute. ‘”...Put him in the truck. The Back this time”, Rob didn’t reply’. (Pg. 67) Butcher is brutal to the town’s occupants especially the ‘new kid’ Jamie. In the Ute Butcher uses his power over Jamie to leave him there and to suffer in the heat. ‘The temperature climbed steadily. The rising sun heated the steel of the chassis, and in the cage Jamie cooked.’(pg. 69) Eventually Butcher’s authority over the township gets him in trouble and the township begins to look at him differently. Lorraine, the district officer for the area of Port Barren is a Powerless character over Sargent Elliot Butcher. Butcher has a secret over her that she does not want shared. She had an affair with a younger man and if anyone found out she would feel ashamed. ‘it would have raised a hell of a stink if anyone’d found out about the affair. Lucky for Lorraine, no one did. Apart from me, that is.’ (pg. 163) Butcher abuses his power over Lorraine to black mail her into stopping sharing... ... middle of paper ... ... alcohol to try and bury the remorse he has for the innocent people butcher murdered. ‘…And as for McPherson I’m in charge around here, and I’ll decide who does what. If I wanted that drunken bugger out I’d bring him, but I don’t so…’(Pg. 99) Butcher also thought of McPherson as a weak link to the police force and did not give him the respect he deserved. The changes in the authority was altered in some characters, for example, Lorraine has command over Jamie, but not over Sgt. Butcher. Butcher is no-longer going to have control over the town, and Mike McPherson no longer has any power, whatsoever. The characters awareness of each other’s strengths and weaknesses take them on a journey throughout the novel to discover more about each other. Eventually the reader starts to see the changes in the characters motivation and the authority is proven to be right or wrong.

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