That Eye, The Sky

Tim Winton’s that eye, the sky (1986) uses first person narrative techniques, symbolism, imagery and characterisation to create the persona of Morton Flack, the narrator and protagonist of the novel. Winton uses Ort’s narration to give the reader insights into the Flack family, the relationships they have and the issues that they face. As Winton develops Ort’s narration the reader is supplied with many symbolic images. The most important symbol and imagery in the novel is the sky. Prior to Henry Warburton entering the life of Ort and educating him about God and religion, Ort sees the sky as an eye which looks over the world and sees everything. Throughout the novel the eye imagery signifies the spirituality and mysticism between Ort and Henry. This essay will analyse how Winton uses the eye imagery to reveal the differences between the two characters by examining Ort’s unyielding faith in a higher force and Henry Warburton’s ever changing relationship with God. This paper will also compare the dispositions of both Ort and Henry.

To describe the character of Ort and his journey throughout the novel, one may look to both vision/imagination and spirituality. Ort appears to be a very imaginative child who lacks knowledge and education. This is demonstrated in the book through the colloquial language of the text with phrases such as ‘Geez, yeah’ and ‘Yer justa kid’ (p 35 & 36). Ort has visions of an eye in the sky, jewels appearing in the flour jar and bells ringing in the forest. At night Ort sees rabbits’ eyes around the fence line and a mysterious light above the house (Matthew, 1986, p 83), although Winton describes the light as “a little cloud small and fat like a woolly sheep” (p 51). Nobody else can see these visions. Most of the time Ort keeps these images to himself.

Sam and Alice Flack chose to move to the country after getting married so that they can live amongst the trees. The countryside is another strong image in the book which