The Boy

Luke and Anna are referred to as ‘his parents’ who ‘do not look one another in the eye’. This shows that they both deeply connect with the boy as his parents but do not work together through their shared experience of the loss of the child the boy represents. Instead, the couple suffer their loss individually, having individual apparitions of the boy. The boy is presented in several ways: as a ghost, a figment of Anna’s imagination and in Luke’s thoughts. He is at the heart of the story and the couple never question his existence. Symbolically, he represents one of the things the couple are trying to leave behind. Yet he becomes an even greater presence in their lives when they move to Garra Nalla and they are ultimately forced to confront what the boy represents in their lives, that is, the grief they experienced after losing their child.

The Boy Quotes

And to their great delight, on each of these journeys the boy chose to accompany them. In the claustrophobic spaces of their dark little apartment his appearances were erratic and unpredictable, but once out on the freeway they would glance behind them and there he would be, lap-sashed on the back seat and with an inquiring look on his face; that dreamy, expectant expression that children get when they are travelling to an unknown destination. Chapter 1

Luke, the early riser, has taken his breakfast outside and as Anna opens the screen door to join him, she looks around absentmindedly for the boy. It’s almost as if she expects him to be here every morning, and she must be careful of this; if she begins to take anything for granted, anything at all, then she might break the spell. (Anna) Chapter 1

He hasn’t thought about the boy for quite some time. (Luke) Chapter 2

And yes, it is him, it’s the boy, and she sees now that the sloop is for him, is waiting to carry him to his next destination. Chapter 3

Birds

Birds are emblematic of the growing awareness in the couple of the natural world. In the city they are hard to hear and impossible to identify. Their cry is a ‘mournful’ one suggesting the choking landscape of the city. In the country setting the couple list and identify birds that they have never heard of prior to moving. At one point Luke looks at a bird and feels an energy exchange between them, a sign of his connection with nature maturing. Anna’s metaphorical comparison to a lost migratory bird shows she has a more difficult time in connecting fully with nature. This is reflected in her desire to plant a garden and control the environment around her. The imagery of the swans being killed illustrates how the natural world has been disrespected in the past, and still is, by those wishing to use the land for their own benefit.

Bird Quotes

He thinks of them as black birds of the surf, paddling out beyond the reef off Rittler’s Point and riding the autumn swells in lithe, crouching postures so that they resemble some weird form of sea-bird looking for a kill. (Luke about surfers) Chapter 1

Instead he just stares into its eyes, and the weird thing is this: the bird stares back. It looks right at him, and in that moment of looking a current passes between them, a soundless exchange of energy. (Luke) Chapter 1

Now she belongs in neither place, like some migratory bird that has lost its bearings. (Anna) Chapter 2

Water

Water is an ever-present reminder in the novella about the need for balance. In the city apartment the small amounts of persistent water causing mould and damp impacted Anna’s health. In the country the decided lack of water in drought conditions threatens wildlife and indeed the couple’s ability to survive and thrive there. The fire can only be quenched by water but the pumps are electric and they let the couple down as they have relied on ‘city’ technology. Even in the face of the fire it is too much water that threatens the Watts family who cling to rocks in the ocean; Alan grasping his children to keep them from being swept away in the rough tide. These extremes of water show the need for balance in the same way the couple need balance. They need to meet in the middle to resolve the unspoken conflict.

The consortium’s threat to the water supply shows they have not considered balance but are willing to chase profit at the expense of the natural environment. This parallels current Australian issues where corporations are pitting themselves against such natural resources as the Murray Darling Basin and the Great Barrier Reef.

Water Quotes

There are days when they speak only of water. (Luke and Anna) Chapter 1

AND SO THEY SETTLE IN, and it seems they have everything they need; everything, that is, except water. Chapter 2

‘And I’ll tell you another thing. It’ll suck up all the water out of the water table and eventually out of the lagoon. In five years’ time that lagoon will be a bloody mudflat. Them swans’ll have to find somewhere else …’ (Gil about the consortium building) Chapter 2

He feared then that his children might slip from his grasp and be swept away, and at that moment his dread of the water had been greater than his fear of the fire. (Alan about his children) Chapter 3

The Sweater

Symbolically, Luke’s navy ribbed wool sweater saves the house from catching alight when the wool retards the ember that enters the room. Luke had left the jumper on the bed as it ‘reminded him of too much of other damage’. The jumper was symbolic for him of their baby’s death. It therefore not only saves the house but brings Luke and Anna together after their house survives, symbolically allowing them to continue on and raise a family in the home they have made for each other. This is portrayed through the imagery of them embracing in the ‘doorway of their home’, a sign of a new beginning.

The Sweater Quote

… Anna collapsing onto the deck and he, alone, stepping to the edge of the boat and sprinkling the ashes over the white-tipped waves. It was a cold day, and he had worn the navy ribbed sweater, the one that at the height of the fire he had discarded on the bed, because he could not bear the thought that it might come to any harm, and because it reminded him too much of other damage. But the ember had landed there, and the sweater had burnt anyway, and in its thick smouldering resistance it had most likely saved the house. (Luke’s sweater) Chapter 3