English Essay
One of the main themes explored in James Moloney’s A Bridge to Wiseman’s Cove is family. The fact that family plays an important role in developing healthy and happy individuals is evident in the book. It shows how Harley Matt is affected by not having a caring and stable family and how he grows and blossoms into a happy, healthy individual under the love, care and nurture of the Duncans. Throughout the book, readers follow Harley’s transition from a miserable, closed-up boy to a strong, healthy individual as he moves to Wattle Beach and starts to settle. The change is apparent as he begins to feel he actually belongs at Wattle Beach and is cared for by the Duncans, showing that having a caring family is important to the health and development of a child.
At the start of the book, Harley’s family is introduced. He has never met his father, simply known as the “man with the motorbike” who stayed just long enough to name his child. His mother, Kerry Matt, raised him and his older brother Carl and sister, Sarah, as a poor single mother moving from place to place and never settling for long. Harley, Carl and Sarah all came from different fathers as Kerry never had much of a stable relationship with any man. As the children grow up, Kerry frequently went on “holidays,” disappearing for days at a time without warning. “What are you doing here? You’re mucking up my life. I can’t stand it.” These words emanated from Kerry. She did not actually say them aloud but they were still heard. Eventually, Kerry went on another “holiday” and never returned. Abandoned by their fathers and now their mother, Sarah becomes the provider for her two younger brothers, getting a job at a travel agency. However, one day Sarah sends Harley and Carl to Wattle Beach to stay with their aunt, Beryl while she goes on a trip to Europe. Sarah tells Aunt Beryl that it is “only for a few weeks,” but she does not come back again. After being abandoned by his father, mother and...