2.4 Construction of genre. Magpie Island by Colin Thiele
Genre: Realism.
Brown (2000) includes realistic animal stories in the category of realistic fiction if “animals are depicted realistically, behave as animals [and] are not empowered with human speech, but are given a personality and a hint of human emotion” (n.p.).
Magpie Island fits these criteria, and although Magpie is shown as experiencing grief at the loss of Mate, ‘Magpie waited, desperate and fearful’ (p.41), he is not endowed with any magical powers. His actions are entirely consistent with those of a bird.
- PLOT:
The storyline is realistic and there is a reasonable cause for all the events that occur. Magpie is blown to the island by a strong north wind, Benbow and Benny carry out their everyday tasks as they fish for tuna, and Mate is killed by a light aircraft (one possibly looking for shoals of fish) flying over the island.
- SETTING:
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The book has a strong sense of place, and Thiele introduces real places such as the Nullabor into the story. Thevenard, Streaky Bay and Port Lincoln are mentioned, and these are all important fishing ports. Situated ‘on the western edge of the fishing grounds’ (p.20), the island could be one of many lying off the South Australian coast in the Great Australian Bight.
- CHARACTER:
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Many birds and animals exhibit signs of grief at the loss of a mate or their young, so that Magpie’s feelings of sadness and loneliness do not strike the reader as at all incongruous. Moreover, as noted above, the rest of the bird’s actions are realistically portrayed. On the island he hunts for the kind of food he needs by fossicking for insects and grubs (p.19), and takes refuge in the nearest trees, the stunted she-oaks, that he can see (p.17).
Nevertheless, Magpie’s most important role in the story is that of a symbol, an emblem of courage and endurance. He acts, as Benbow says, as a talisman, as something for people to draw inspiration from (p.47).
Benny’s behaviour is consistent with that of a ten year old who sees life as an adventure, a boy who would much prefer to be out fishing with his father instead of attending school (p.20). It is possible that he senses a kindred spirit in Magpie whose intrepid nature has led him into difficulties. However, as a youngster, Benny does not speak to his father as an equal, and has to use all his powers of persuasion to convince the sea captain to allow him to try and help the bird.
Although Benny is young enough to see fishing as a fine way to escape school, the adult Benbow Bates is fully aware of the harsh realities of life at sea, and the hardships that such a way of life entails. Thus his gruff and authoritarian way of behaving is to be expected in one who has the responsibility of ensuring both a successful outcome to their fishing trips, and the safety of his crew and his son. He is not an unsympathetic character however, and his essential kindness is, as mentioned above, revealed in his conversations with Benny.
- POINT OF VIEW:
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Thiele’s use of omniscient narration enables him to depict the landscape, the events of the story and the thoughts of the characters, all of which are realistically portrayed. This form of narration is an accepted device in the tradition of story-telling. It requires suspension of disbelief in which the reader accepts that no one person could, in reality, know everything that occurs or have insight into the characters’ thoughts. The ‘real world’ of the story, no matter how skilfully drawn, is always a creation of the author.
Note: See also point of view in 2.3 .
- STYLE:
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Thiele uses a blend of dialogue, narration and description to set the scene and to move the story forward. Although there is not a great deal of dialogue in Magpie Island, it provides, as mentioned above, clear insight into the character of Benbow Bates with minimal comment from the narrator. His interactions with his son often consist of a series of short, sharp questions and commands: “What’s up?”; “Why?”; “Which she-oak?”’’ (p.21). ‘“Don’t be stupid”’ (p.22); ‘“Come on! Wake up, Bright Eyes!” (p.23); “Come on, … we’ve done our job”’ (p.32). Much of his speech is also telegraphic in style: ‘“Aren’t any boats that I know of …”’ (p.22); ‘“Not even used?”; “No young ones?”’ (p.46). At one point too, he tells his son to stop ‘gawking’ (p.32), and this colloquialism and informal way of speaking is typical of realistic fiction ‘since it deals with contemporary times and people’ ( Literature Place, 2006).
In his narration, Thiele adds further authenticity to the story by naming real places in South Australia and by using nautical and fishing terms when recounting the event in the ‘clipper’ of Benny’s failure to carry out his task of ‘chumming’ (p.23). Even the boat’s name could be based on a ship of the same name that sailed from Melbourne to Sydney in December 1860.