Analytical Essay of Runner

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Analytical essay of Runner. The novel runner is on the teenage life of Charlie Feehan. It is set in Richmond, Melbourne. The novel is a product of the historical context of 1919. The author, Robert Newton, uses narrative techniques and conventions to represent the impact of poverty on a growing teenager during this time period In the novel, Runner, the author used symbolism to describe the physical damages to Charlies life caused by poverty. The death of Charlie’s father eventuates into Charlie having to accept the responsibility of his family. This responsibility is symbolised by ‘the long pants of adulthood’: ‘It was quick, my father’s death. I had little time to prepare for the end. As soon as he took his last breath, Ma and I were forced to think of the future. Even in death, the poor were denied the luxury of grieving. There just wasn’t time.’(pp. 28) … ‘I played ‘queenie’ and marble, too. But once the lessons were over, I returned home and stepped into the long pants of adulthood. I tell you, I got so confused I didn’t know who I was supposed to be’ (pp. 28). As a result of the character’s father’s death caused by the diseases of poverty Charlie, the character, was faced with the ‘long pants of adulthood’. Charlie wore the pants for his Ma and brother Jack as a sign of responsibility of them. As Charlie was wearing the ‘long pants’ most of the time he began to run to both keep warm and also to escape the responsibility that he was faced with: ‘That was what the poor craved most in the winter months, but without money we seldom found it. In the slums of Richmond, it was dampness was the enemy. It moved into houses, rose up in the walls, black and wet, like cancer (pp. 2)… To be poor was to be cold. The two were the same. But me, I refused to let it take me. So one day I platted a course- a simple rectangle of main streets it was, converting only a few miles
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