Maestro - Regret (I Do Own This Paper)

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Peter Goldsworthy's Maestro deals with the powerful human emotion of regret. Protagonists Eduard Keller and Paul Crabbe end up living their adult lives in regret over youthful arrogance. On this level it is a depressing tale. Certainly it carries a universal theme for adult readers, all of whom can reflect on missed chances and blind actions from the luxury of hindsight and maturity. But regret can only come with revelation, the capacity to apply some self-reflection and gain insight into missed opportunities. Surely this must be attached to growth and development as individuals. Revelation for Paul Crabbe comes after years of naivety and exaggerated self-importance. While youthful egotism is not unusual, for Paul it is inflated and magnified as his family moves to Darwin. The settings ofMaestro are important in understanding the history and context of the characters and their actions. While Paul quickly learns to love Darwin, it is still presented to him as ''the arsehole of the earth'' by his father. Paul and his family never divested themselves of the feeling of superiority that became so embedded in Paul's character. This leads to a particular precociousness, together with his natural talent, which has made him overconfident in his self-perception and his understanding of the world. Keller recognises this about Paul immediately, describing him as ''spoilt'' and challenging him with the notion that he does not ''understand that [he] does not understand''. At school, Paul acknowledged his attitude, describing himself as ''irredeemably smug'' and ensuring that ''the plodders'' knew he was superior to them. Seeing something of his younger self in Paul's excessive pride, Keller attempts to teach Paul the nature of humanity through humility. However, ''Growing ever fonder at the sound of [his] own voice'', Paul is not receptive. Keller's halting,
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