Preview

"The Shark Net" written by Robert Drewe essay: How does Robert Drewe shape the reader's response towards people and places and events in his memoir "The Shark Net"?

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
781 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
"The Shark Net" written by Robert Drewe essay: How does Robert Drewe shape the reader's response towards people and places and events in his memoir "The Shark Net"?
"The Shark Net" written by Robert Drewe is a non-fiction Autobiographical text which is part-true crime and part autobiographical. Robert Drewe captivates the reader's interest through the events, places, and people of early his childhood and adolescence, and the Eric Cooke serial killings. By using techniques such as symbolism, language and selection of detail, Drewe positions the reader to respond with intrigue to his experiences.

At the age of six Drewe was required to move from Melbourne to start a new beginning in a foreign environment 'Perth'. From his early childhood growing up with different children in both the coastal environment and Melbourne he begins to use the frequent repetition of "The Sand People". Language has been used to juxtapose the culture, the way of living in Melbourne compared to the way of living in Western Australia. He refers to the "Sand People" to be living close to the dunes, and "Sun and wind had rearranged the appearance of the Sand People, too-tanned, freckled, scabbed and bleached them. With their darker skins, red eyed, raw noses and permanent deep cracks in their bottom lips, they looked nothing like Melbourne people". This quote symbolizes this importance of the beach and sun to locals, and underlines the differences of the people in Melbourne and Perth.

Once Drewe leant the way of life in his new environment 'Perth', he becomes increasingly more aware of the social indifferences between himself and his father and mother. The lack of communication with his father, and the over protectiveness of his mother creates a barrier between them which escalates into an on going conflict.

This is reinforced when Drewe's father avoids certain aspects of parenting and instead hands him a "Father and Son" booklet, and again when he discovers that he and his mother have different perspective views on life, that they have been slowly drifting apart during his adolescence. Emotive language has portrayed Drewe in these issues to feel like an

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In ‘Inheritance’, Hannie Rayson has created a view of the world that stretches beyond the narrow bounds of its Mallee setting and into the murky depths of Australian pysche. Relationships in the bittersweet contemporary 2003 play are destabilised by conflicting beliefs of who is Allandales’s rightful heir. This comes about as bitter octogenarian twins Dibs’ and Girlie have the family come back to the small country town of Rushton to celebrate their birthday in the beginning of act one. The impending death of Farley Hamilton propels the issue of Allandale’s inheritance into the foreground. Branches of the family are set against each other and amid all this there is the identity, place and entitlement of Nugget Hamilton.…

    • 951 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In this paragraph I will show my personal connection to a theme of family-ties in the short story “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst. On a page it says that “He talked so much that we all quit listening to what he said” (Hurst). I connect to this because my brother too is annoying because sometimes he never stops talking. Yet he talks with such an exotic vocabulary whenever he never stops talking. On another page it says “But doodle couldn’t keep up with the plan”(Hurst). I connect to this as well because my youngest brother doesn’t always listen or focus, but sometimes he follows with such…

    • 108 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    A struggle for individualism is often masked by resistance to all things ‘parental’. The essay is written from the standpoint of a young adult reflecting on her childhood; who like the majority of young adults – finds nothing in common with her father. Vowell defiant personality is clear, “Our house was partitioned off into territories.” (Page 172). A stand is often taken by teenagers against their parents. However, Vowell’s description of her father’s shop, although seemingly in disgust, is lovingly depicted by using distinctive words that almost appeared optimistic.…

    • 385 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    The elder takes the narrow path and the younger takes the other leading towards the darkness, influenced by bad habits and addictions in the world. The elder son makes a man of himself; he has accomplished many great things, being a mathematics teacher especially. On the other hand, the younger son has made nothing but a fool of himselfas he chooses the road of drugs, he is even displayed locally as a drug salesman, which was the reason for his recent incarceration. “The narrator stairs at the newsprint on the paper in his hands, which spells out the words of his brothers, ‘S-O-N-N-Y’ and the story behind it” (Baldwin 362). The narrator began to create an image of a “block of ice” in his stomach, and physically as he describes his clothing “wet” from the melting of the…

    • 1496 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    He struggles within thinking of reasons the farmer should not continue on the journey. He struggles to let the words out, but is still to afraid to talk the farmer out of it. As the conflict within is getting worse as the farmer drives faster and faster the boys realizes he may never get to those far away he places he once dreamed of. How his life could change so quickly, in the hands of a stranger.…

    • 1575 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    French Worker

    • 1251 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Like many others, the life of Bede was very difficult; his relationship with his mother and his sister was a very distant one. Bede was the fourth child and therefore he received very little attention from his mother, Bede felt that his mother did not love him which he…

    • 1251 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Winnifred Bates sat, hunched over on the old, worn out armchair that sat in the corner of her parents living room in their small home in Bedford, England. It was a cloudy day out and as she glanced ashamedly out the window, her mood was further dampened by the gloomy English weather. Her mother, Elizabeth, stood across the room from her and glared over her crossed arms. Her grey blue eyes piercing Winnifred’s resolve. The room felt tense around them proceeding the argument that had just taken place.…

    • 834 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    relationships with the Widow Douglas and his father, as well as freedom from the societal…

    • 1932 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Both protagonist admire and have great affinity for their fathers. This can be noted in Blaine's’’ story as the young lad watches his father, accordingly “Drinking” the essence of “dadnness”. He also aspires to have his father’s opinion and acceptance . This can also be noted in Collins story, when the young boy when the young boy talks about his daily time with his father and his obedience; this can be examined near the beginning.…

    • 243 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Shows that he is not on good terms with his father, but is too scared to talk back to him and agrees with him silently, while having feelings of anger and frustration.…

    • 421 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this essay I am going to focus on the character Owen and how his character develops throughout the book. The main character Liz is 15 when she is involved in a car accident. She dies before she reaches the hospital and she is taken to ‘Elsewhere’, which in the book is a place like Heaven. In Elsewhere everyone ages backwards and she meets her Grandma who is…

    • 788 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the first two paragraphs of the text, the narrator probably did not think much of his father as a role model. He was irresponsible and indifferent to people’s opinions and worries other than himself. For example, in the first paragraph the father snuck in his underage son “into a nightclub during [their] last visit” (Powder 17). Apparently from what the narrator had said, it seems that the mother and father have separated and the son is currently residing with the mother. The irresponsible behavior of the father may have been a factor to the separation of the family. Second, “he was indifferent to my fretting” (Powder 17) as it started snowing at the peak and decided to stay a while longer. In the second paragraph the father insisted that…

    • 345 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I was only four years old, when he chose to move to Canada. My mother was happy living close to her family and feared the idea of leaving home for a foreign place. “She didn’t understand” why he wanted to leave. Yet, of course, she had to go with him with little choice in the matter like Bette. They now live oceans apart from their family, isolated. They had to spend many difficult days doing laborious work so they can provide for us. The “tear” is still present in my family, as I no longer see “a special glimmering of light in [my mother’s] eyes”, after being separated from her family and friends. My father’s decision has altered so many lives yet we kept sailing. I can relate to William who is so much like my father, since they were both only looking for opportunities to improve their lives. Bette and the son are also, similar to my mother, in the sense that they all felt deprived of the right to choose where their boat sails, since the wind keeps blowing them off…

    • 784 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Shark-Personal Narrative

    • 794 Words
    • 4 Pages

    I felt my lips swell, as I breathed in the salty beach air at Amity Point. As reached down over the boat, I felt the soothing water gently run through my fingers. It was my first time spear fishing and saying that I felt scared was an understatement. I was about to plunge into the water when I felt a shiver run through my spine; I had forgotten to pack my second oxygen tank. How stupid could I be? Besides the fact that I was as nervous as a fish in a shark tank, I decided not to worry about it as I still had my main tank.…

    • 794 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout A Story, the author shifts from the continuing view of the father and the son to emphasize a growing differences between the two characters and the fathers own fears that those differences will be the downfall of his continued respect from his son that “ he thinks, the boy will give up on his father.” This showing that the father feels that at the one moment in time when he is unable to supply a requested story, it is the one moment that will forever decide his relationship with his son. Reflecting this we view a glimpse at the fathers fears of…

    • 564 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics