A Bridge to Wiseman’s cove Essay

The novel A Bridge to Wisemans Cove is about a teenage boy named Carl who is mum left him and his brother to go live with their aunt, who is cruel, selfish and gambles. This book describes how Carl and his younger brother find happiness in the most odd places. In this novel, the author raised some issues like underage drinking, body image, child abuse, gambling, young school leavers and dysfunctional families. Carls family was tearing apart from the start, from his mum occasionally leaving them to defend for themselves as beryl explains later on that mother of yours is always taking off. to finding out that all the three children have different fathers. And Sarah their sister also leaves realizing that they could only make her life worse. The effects of Carls dysfunctional family are vast leaving kids feeling left out and alone, trapped in something that they dont like. Child abuse was a relatively big thing in this book centring the affects that aunt Beryl has on both Harley and Carl, but mostly Harley. She did not want Harley to leave the house. At one end it was looped in the window frame. At the other, met a pair of handcuffs. This is how she kept Harley at home by chaining him up. To where their mum abandons them because she cannot handle looking after them. Child abuse in this book is quite relevant for the teenage audience of this book. Gambling is a significant issue in this book, showing from how it can be addictive to how it almost possesses a person. Aunt Beryl had a gambling problem she had a win at the poker machines. and played almost everyday, and how beryl steels from Carl to get the money to gamble with, leaving Carl with no money for himself or Harley. Gambling is an awful habit that in many cases is hard to escape from and has a big impact on not just one person but friends and family. Body image was also brought up throughout the book. Describing how someone who is unhappy with themselves like Carl and Justine, Carls friend, can still have a good self image and feel good about themselves instead of hiding it. It also reflects on how Carl and Justine have something close,  something to relate to with each other. stomach bulging through the lines of his buttons describes how Carl sees himself in the mirror. Body image is a major topic in any teenagers life and it is great to see that James moloney has relised that and brought it out as a message in his book. Underage drinking is another topic in this novel describing how teenagers are not responsible with alcohol, but try to imagine that they are. Like Maddie (Justines friend) who became drunk on New Years by sculling a mix of rum and coke. It was Just rum and coke, like everyone else, but it didnt have the same effect to everyone else. Underage drinking is a problem that occurs in many teenagers lives and in some cases ruins their lives. Leaving school early is what Carl had to do when he moved to Wisemans Cove after aunt beryls greedy mind took possession of Carls life and made him go get a job instead on going to school, because aunt beryl wanted the money to go gamble with. Harley on the other hand was able to go to school only so he was out of aunt beryls face for the day. Carl was forced to get a job on the barge with aunt beryl squeezing every dollar out of him. With Carl being fifteen years old it was hard for him to get a job but after helping joy (Maddies mum) he was able to help on the barge. I didnt want to take you on.. Skip Duncan complained to Carl about not wanting to work with him. School is one of the essentials for a teenager and you cant just force one to loose the lack of education so easy. A Bridge to Wisemans Cove certainly raises the awareness of alcohol, child abuse, body image and how you feel about yourself, gambling, how families sometimes break up and how leaving school early can ruin some peoples life. I think that this book is great, making people relies that there are problems occurring out there that are usually hidden and un heard or until it is to late. Bibliography – www.bookrags.com/ A Bridge to Wiseman’s Cove Essay ‘With it’s sight restored at last, the bird jerked it’s head sideways to look at Carl and then Joy, as though it was asking, is it true? Am I free?’ James Moloney uses the image of the osprey in several ways throughout the novel. The main technique in which it is represented, is the emotion of the characters finally feeling free in there own way. The first use of the image of the osprey is shown when Carl’s mother Kerry would always leave to go on one of her ‘holiday’s’. I believe that she went on these holidays to make herself feel free. To go away for a few days and leave her real life. But in fact she was never really free. Even on her holidays she always knew that she would eventually have to come back to reality, to her children. It’s not that she didn’t love her kids, she did. Perhaps she just couldn’t handle the stress of having to raise three children as a single parent or maybe just having them around was holding her back. During the prelude of the novel an unknown women gets on board a bus. She waits out of sight and sneaks on the bus when the driver is pre-occupied. She does not have a ticket and no one knows who she is. ‘The driver gunned the engine, commanding its throaty roar and the bus pulled away from the roadhouse into the sea of darkness. Only then did the women sit up and permit herself a smile’ At the end of the novel we find out that this women was Kerry. She was on her way back to her children when the bus she was on drowned into the ocean. In the moment that Kerry died, came the realization that she knew she was finally free. Sarah, Carl’s sister also finds the courage to leave and set herself free. Free from living her own life. Since Sarah was old enough to remember she would always have to depend on herself not her mother. When her mother would leave she would have to look after Carl and Harley as though they were her own. She states in the book ‘I’m only nineteen years old. I’ve got my own life. By the time Harley’s old enough to take care of himself, I’ll be thirty.’ Although I don’t agree with the way Sarah went about just dropping Harley and Carl off at their Aunt Beryl’s, I agree that she has her own life to live and she needed to escape. Consequently, setting herself free. The image of the osprey is shown in a major way within Carl. In many ways the osprey is a mirror image of Carl, in its appearance, pain, suffering, recovery and how it is set free. The image of the osprey is remarkably similar to that of Carl’s. It was a, ‘large bird, brown and grey, its head covered by a canvas hood.’ The description of the osprey matches some aspects of Carl’s body and personality. Carl was a large boy, miserable like the colour grey and he was shy like a hood covering his head. This was because he did not want to see what people responded to his body. He was ashamed of himself and the name his family had. Although by the end of the book Carl realizes that he finally has new friends and a new family. He finds that people like him and that they ignore that he is a Matt. ‘My name is Carl Matt. M-A-T-T.’ Carl screams his name out to the world, he doesn’t care anymore. Carl was free. Free of his worries, free of his fears. He is free from the curse that everyone says he and his family has. He could let go of his sorrowful past and be alive just like how the osprey let go of its painful past and began to fly once again. The way the osprey spread it’s wings and took its first beat against the wind symbolizes the emotions rushing through Carl when he finds out his mum truly did love him and Harley. The journey of the osprey mirrored Carl’s personal life. The osprey was set free in a way that makes Carl feel alive. The image of the osprey is used to represent the characters feeling free. It mainly symbolizes as a metaphor for Carl’s life. The osprey is free from being injured by people by being nurtured from Justine and Joy. Carl was also getting injured by people. Throughout his whole life people were hurting him. Kerry, his mother, Beryl, his aunt, his older sister Sarah and kids calling him names about him weight. When he met Justine and Joy, they saved him. They made him feel alive. They set him free. A Bridge to Wiseman’s Cove Essay A bridge to wiseman’s cove, by James Moloney is a novel about a young man named Carl Matt; it goes through all the difficulties he faces during his life on wattle beach. At the beginning of this novel, the importance of family seems to be the main theme, however, as the story continues, other themes are introduced such as knowing the difference between wrong and right, how one views himself, in other words body image, abandonment, the need for love, neglect, loneliness and many more. Right from the beginning of the story the reader is introduced to some of the fundamental characters of the novel such as Kerry, the mother of Carl, his younger brother Harley and his older sister Sarah. From as early as the first few chapters the theme of abandonment is introduced when Kerry decides to abandon Carl and his two other siblings. But this isn’t the last time you read about abandonment it seems to be a reoccurring event. It is soon discovered that Kerry was also abandoned by her three previous boyfriends that she had a child each with! Sarah then tells Carl and Harley that they will be spending their holidays with their Aunt Beryl in Wattle beach while she goes on a holiday of her own. Its not long till they realise that Sarah won’t be coming back from her holiday any time soon, meaning Carl has been abandoned once again. Once you think no one else could leave Carl, Harley leaves him too live with the Duncan’s family, while living with beryl for him becomes unbearable. Being abandoned so many times, Carl is left feeling hurt, confused and neglected! This is where the themes loneliness and the need for love come in. When Carl first arrives, he is miserable and lonely: â€Å"alone in the park, Carl wishes he was a concrete statute, set there for the birds to sit on. No thoughts, no cares, no pain, just years of weathering in the sun and rain until there was nothing more† (pg. 29) He is later told by Justine that he has been â€Å"playing dead† (p. 184). Carl finally admits that he is hurt inside by what he is mother has done, and he doesn’t even know if he is loved or not. He explains to Justine that â€Å"there’s something broken inside of me. Every time I try open up it hurts and I have to stop† (p. 278). â€Å"I’m angry.  All the time it was that one fear. That she didn’t love me.† (p. 232) Carl is big, awkward, and well aware of his body. The Oxford dictionary defines â€Å"body image† as the subjective picture or mental image of one’s own body. For Carl body image is important, other then being low is self esteem, he is so self-conscience of what other people might say or think about him he wore a t-shirt when he went swimming to protect himself from public humiliation, â€Å"he was ashamed of his fleshly bulges in front of the war-painted life savers† (p. 44). As a defence mechanism Carl would often draw his arms to his stomach in order to hide it when he felt uncomfortable (p. 45) and this shows that his body image is always in his thoughts.