The Theme Of War And Masculinity In The Novel Fly Away Peter

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Recommended: American masculinity and war

The Novella Fly Away Peter, by David Malouf presents the national discourse, the themes war and masculinity is presented through the sources. War is presented through ‘Innocence and experience in David Malouf’s Fly Away Peter’ by Chitra Thrivikrama Nair, where it highlights the tragic experience of war of what men had been through. Masculinity is conveyed through, ‘Malouf’s Epic and the Unravelling of a National Stereotype’ by Peter Knox-Shaw. Therefore, the character Jim Saddler highlights these use of themes through the novella.
Malouf presents the idea of war through Nair’s source, where it depicts what men’s had been through, which reflects on the novella Fly Away Peter where it challenges the national discourse. Nair states the experience of war being “physical and spiritual journey” (Nair, 2014, pg. 154) where the Fly Away Peter highlights a short story of Australian society at the First World War. Furthermore, Nair states that Malouf’s ability of combining history and fictional imagination, where it introduces significant contribution of understanding what Australian war was experienced like. Therefore, the character Jim Saddler is present in Nair’s source which Jim is described as innocent and self-made, where Jim lives an idyllic life. Jim’s point of view about the “swampland” demonstrates the idea of what the world was presented in which, the swampland was destroyed. According to Nair (2014), swampland is been defined by “different types of birds represent cultures and nations around the world”, this determines the way of what …show more content…

Malouf has highlighted the virtual aspects of the Australian national discourse, where he states the understanding of ‘war’ being a tragic experience. Whereas, ‘masculinity’ depicts where Australian soldiers were been stereotyped as diggers. Therefore, Malouf presents the way of Australian national

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