Runner Essay Runner

Runner Essay

Robert Newton’s novel ‘Runner’ Explores how the Characters situations that they find themselves in changes the choices they make. Newton demonstrates this in many ways as the characters move and progress throughout the story. The hero in the story Charlie Feehan is the main example of this as he is the one that gets offered the job to work for Squizzy. Ma and Nostrils also show that their actions change when they are put in a scenario where they are being taken advantage of or are outsmarted and muscled. These confirms the idea of how their choices are impacted by the situation they are in.

Newton Illustrates the character Charlie tries to think about what could benefit his future the most, not just what would make his friends

A key example of this is when she doesn’t give her consent for Charlie to work for Squizzy Taylor, because she knows that if he does Charlie will turn into a criminal just like Squizzy and she knows that her late husband would want Charlie to finish School, ‘… I’ll not ‘ave any son a mine keepin’ company with criminals. Yer poor father’d be turnin’ in ‘is grave … You’ll stay at school and finish the year like ‘e wanted.’ Ma knows that at some stage Charlie is going to drop out of school to go to work so that they will have a double income later in their life, after the end of the book. But she doesn’t want that to happen yet. Ma is also forced into a position where she has no choice but to agree to a sexual relationship with Mr Peacock. ‘He’d taken to her with his fists. Her lip was split open and one of her eyes was swollen the size of a cricket ball.’ Charlie had to walk in to this happening, while he was out and about, Ma was being hurt and taken advantage of just because she was a single mum, who didn’t work. From what was happening in the novel, Ma was trying to do as Mr Peacock was saying so that he wouldn’t hurt her family, but when Charlie walks in on them, Mr Peacock makes it clear to him that he should mind his own business when he says; ‘Back off, lad … It don’t concern ya.’ But Mr Peacock still decides to hit him, making Charlie fall onto the floor. The events that follow leave

He sets a good example of this in the beginning of the novel, where himself and Charlie are in a running race to get the position of Runner for Squizzy Taylor. After the race, Nostrils comes up to Charlie and introduced himself, starting their friendship. During Nostrils first game for the Tigers playing in the forward flank, he is put up against Jimmy Barlow. In the first half Barlow had knocked all of the confidence out of Nostrils. During half time, his Pa goes up to him and from what happens in the second half, his Pa says to him something along the lines of ‘Your smart you are Norman, Barlow might be bigger than you but you, have the effs. Norman remember the effs.’ This is the only mention of the effs throughout the novel but the reader can still see that the characters still follow the effs as they continue on their journey. ‘Run, Charlie! Run!’ Nostrils says this in desperate needs to tell Charlie to run when Nostrils has been stopped by Jimmy Barlow and his friends. He says this to save Charlie as its better than one person being hurt than two, and if both of them got caught up it would give Barlow and his friends to much satisfaction. Nostrils also is a big part when he helps out Charlie with his Liquor runs for Squizzy. These show that he is willing to help out his friends as well take on the