Compare and Contrast GG & Fly Away Peter

Parin Shah

Innocence to Experience
Fly Away Peter by David Malouf delineates Australias involvement in the First World War to interpret the journey of human exploration - the journey from innocence to experience. Through Jim Saddlers war experiences, Malouf renders the meaning of human life and explains the place of an individual in the mass of humanity. Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby illustrates the life during the Americas roaring twenties and the conflicts between the values of East Egg and West Egg. The demise of Jay Gatsby, the protagonist of this story, was a result of him attempting to rekindle his past dream of being with Daisy, his true love. This essay will explore the journey from innocence to experience led by Jay Gatsby and Jim Saddler and the resulting revelation about the meaning of life.

In Fly Away Peter, Malouf uses landscape as symbols to explore the journey from innocence to experience. Queensland, the setting for the first-half of the novel, is an idyllic, fertile swampland evocative of the Garden of Eden, in the story of Genesis. This biblical allusion compares Queensland to the garden of gods, which expounds that although humanity is rarely able to live in harmony with nature, the people of Queensland are able to, because they believe they live in the garden of gods and gods, unlike humans, live in balance and harmony with nature. This hyperbolic comparison to the Garden of Eden extenuates the naivety of the people of Queensland, making Queensland a geographical symbol of innocence. Through, this symbolic setting, we see the naivety of Jim and the direct correlation between Jims innocuous character and tranquility of Queensland. And its only later when Jim goes to the war, that he acknowledges, that life in Queensland was a state of dangerous innocence. Europe, located on the other side of the world, is an old country ravaged by experiences of war, making it a symbol of Jims painful war experiences. Further, he encounters rats during wartime, which contrast the birds in Queensland. Rats are considered the familiars of death, creatures of the underworld, whereas birds were of life and the air. The grotesque visual imagery brought out by these familiars of death emphasizes the intensity of sadness in a Jims life because after a soldiers death, the body will simply be eaten by rats instead of being taken for funeral; hence, there will be limited potential for ones soul to rest in peace after death. The contrast of creatures of underworld to that of paradise [birds], 1

Compare and Contrast GG & Fly Away Peter

Parin Shah

expound the extent of misery in Jims life. Thus, the Jims journey from Queensland to Europe is symbolic of his journey from innocence to experience.

Similarly, in The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses the landscape change from West Egg to Plaza Hotel to symbolize Gatsbys journey from innocence to experience. His first meeting with Daisy in West Egg symbolized his innocence. There must have been moments that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams, not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion. Gatsbys belief that such a colossal illusion could come true was itself a notion of Gatsbys innocence. Further, when Nick discusses with Gatsby on the matter of re-creating the past, Gatsby asserts cant repeat the past?. Why of course you can! These short-paced sentences also demonstrates Gatsbys navet as he believes that re-creating the past is easily possible; this in fact blinds him to what happens in front of his eyes, such as him failing to understand Daisys character. Throughout the novel, color white symbolizes everything pure and innocent, such as Daisys innocent white girlhood and Daisys white dress, which suggested her pure exterior appearance. Although he recognizes Daisys pure and innocent exterior, his love for her blinds him to recognize her corrupt, shallow and materialistic interior. However, this innocence in Gatsby diminished when he confronted Tom at the town plaza hotel. His innocence transcended to experience when Tom revealed Gatsbys past in front of Daisy. Gatsby had achieved his wealth through illegal means such as bootlegging. I found out what your drug stores were. He and this Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side-street drug stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter. Thats one of his little stunts. Soon after Tom reveals this fact to everyone including Daisy, Daisy stares terrified. The change in Daisys reaction marks the turning point in Gatsbys journey from innocence to experience as Daisy starts to move away from him, having realized his illegal acts, and goes back to Tom instead. This event in the play also brings out the theme of time because for Daisy love changed with time. However, for Gatsby, the shock expressed by too in You love me too reiterates Gatsbys belief in unchanging love. This also foreshadows that Gatsby and Daisy cannot possible reunite because of the disagreements about time and love. Just as the Europe symbolized Jims experience, here the Town Plaza hotel can symbolize Gatsbys experience, as the hotel setting is where Gatsbys life took a turning point. However, it is important to note that although Jims journey from innocence to experience was a 2

Compare and Contrast GG & Fly Away Peter

Parin Shah

long one, Gatsbys was short and things changed for him within a fraction of a second. In Fly Away Peter, Jims painful journey from innocence to experience was seen as unavoidable. The metaphor of the tilting slopes on the streets leading towards Europe suggests that Jims involvement in the war was inevitable. On a greater extent, the tilting slope is also a metaphor expressing that in Europe, his life will take a sad turning point and the steep slope also illustrates Jim acknowledged to himself: If he didnt go [to the war] he would never understand, when it was over, why his life and everything he had known were so changed. However, in the Great Gatsby, Jays Gatsby from innocence to experience was avoidable unlike Jims. The next day was broiling, almost the last, certainly the warmest, of the summer. This day was the day when Tom confronted Gatsby at the town plaza hotel and hence repetitive mention of heat in Chapter 7 increases the tension between Gatsby and the rest. The warmest summer day also symbolizes that his hopes were at its peak and everything else will be downward from now on. Hence, in the Great Gatsby, nature warns Gatsby of his disastrous future, although Gatsby ignores the signs. However, in Fly Away Peter, even though Jim makes a constant attempt to connect with nature (even during war), nature provides no signs of the grim future that lies ahead. Even when Jim is in this awful war-stricken place, one thing that he can still find comfort in, and which reminds him of his peaceful home is the birds, which are everywhere, still living their lives unaffected by mans war. This shows how nature is unaltered by mans cruel antics against other man, and how life and nature must, and will go on through all circumstances. Through the use of biplanes, human have broken the natural order, because using airplanes they have reached the region, which is meant to be only for birds. Hence, in return, when humanity faces the grim war, nature provides no help.

In Fly Away Peter, Malouf ends the book with a philosophical approach stating the meaning of life, which results from Jims journey from innocence to experience. Imogen watches the waves, grieving for Jim; she remembers his intensity, his passion for bird watching and his senseless execution. That was what life meant, a unique presence, and it was essential in every creature a life wasnt for anything. It simply was. This reflects the ironic philosophical approach to life that although, Jim was the 3

Compare and Contrast GG & Fly Away Peter

Parin Shah

significant central character of the book, who captured readers attention through his passion and love for the nature, he was rendered useless by the war, where the place of an individual in the mass humanity of war becomes insignificant. Thus, the experience that Jim gained by the war made his life futile. The waves, which Imogen watches serves to be the metaphor for life. [She] watched the waves, one after another, as they rose, gathered themselves, stood poised a moment holding the sun at their crests, then toppled, there was a rhythm to it. Malouf explains that just the way in which a rhythm has cyclical patterns, life has cyclical patterns of happiness and misery. He emphasizes that life, like waves, has ups and downs. There are moments where life is beautiful and has significance, but that significance, like waves lasts only for only a brief period of time. Hence, Malouf, through Jims warexperiences concludes Fly Away Peter by stating the meaninglessness of life, whereas, in the Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald concludes the book with infinite hope through Jay Gatsbys journey from innocence to experience. Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future ... it eluded us then, but thats no matter, t omorrow we run faster... and one fine morning So we beat on, boasts against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past. The green light symbolized Gatsbys hope for a better future and the ability to recreate the past, however, it was this nave belief that led to Gatsbys death. Instead of conveying the futility of the attempt to recreate the past, Fitzgerald concludes that people never lose their optimism tomorrow, we will run faster and stretch their arms further. The metaphor of boats against the current explains the struggle of human beings to achieve their goals by both transcending and re-creating the past, and also characterizes the infinite hope of American dream. Thus, author concludes that although Gatsbys journey from innocence to experience was painful, the infinite hope of American dream will lead to more and more people facing such experiences ceaselessly.

Through the analysis of this essay, the landscape becomes a metaphor for the protagonists journey from innocence to experience. The landscape symbolizes the periods of innocence and experience for the protagonists in both Fly Away Peter and the Great Gatsby. Though the length of the journey varies for each of the protagonists, its impact is no less significant. Through Jim and Gatsbys journey from innocence to experience, the authors of both books also reveal the meaning and significance of life. 4