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Comparing Fly Away Peter By David Malouf And The National Discourse

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Malouf and the National Discourse
The Australian national discourse contains themes which are explored in texts to provide a sense of an Australian national identity and the creation of a national identity. The 1982 novella ‘Fly Away Peter’ by David Malouf is one text which uses themes from the discourse and different secondary sources will be used to see how Malouf represents the discourse.
Australia is unique amongst world countries due to it viewing war as a foundational event, which assisted in the creation of an Australian identity and the national discourse. David Malouf is an author who commonly alludes to the national discourse in his writings and war is often used as a symbol of Australia. One such example that is identified by Knox-Shaw (1991) is Malouf’s 1990 novel ‘The Great World’, which evolves around the effects of war in Australia. War is …show more content…

However, in ‘The Great World’ loss of innocence, survival and the witnessing of tragic, heroic events is shown through generations of Australians going to war. Furthermore, it is seen in ‘Fly Away peter’ that war has a strong influence on Australia through people going to war. Whilst it is sometimes not realised, the idea of Australians going to war and experiencing its effects is a theme of the national discourse. The theme is recognised by Knox-Shaw (1991) through the common use of the word ‘digger’ in Malouf’s works. ‘Digger’ is an Australian term which describes an Australian and New-Zealand war soldier commonly known as an ANZAC and in its repeated use Malouf stresses the idea of

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