Key Themes and Ideas in "Eye The Sky" by Tim Winto
Key Themes and Ideas in "Eye The Sky" by Tim Winton
That Eye The Sky, written by Tim Winton, thoroughly explores the themes of love, family and friendship. The most important thing in Ort’s life is his family, especially after he looses the friendship of fat cherry, who had been his best friend for his entire life. Ort does not always understand his family, but he loves them unconditionally. The Flack family is held together by Sam Flack, Ort’s father. When Sam has the accident and goes into a coma, the Flack family slowly starts to disintegrate. Ort’s sister, Tegwyn, had been having problems with depression for a while before the accident. However, when her father is injured and the one constant thing in her life is disrupted, she falls deeper into her own illness. Henry Warburton enters the Flack household after the accident and offers to help with Sam. In some ways he takes the place of Sam, and this is why Tegwyn starts to like him, eventually running off with him.
The themes in That Eye The Sky, are explored using symbolism. By far, the most important symbol in the novel is the sky. Before Henry enters the life of Ort and educates him about God and religion. Ort sees the sky as an eye which looks over the world and sees everything. He used to talk to the sky. After discovering religion, the sky, for Ort, takes the place of God. The sky symbolizes God throughout the book and Ort talks to God through prayer. Another strong symbol in the book is the countryside and trees, Sam and Alice Flack choose to move to the country after getting married so that they can live around trees. The countryside symbolizes the true nature of the Flack family.
Tegwyn has always been different form Sam, Alice and Ort. She likes the city and does not understand the other members of her family. Although she has been raised in the same place Ort and is able to walk through the bush without making a sound. She does not have Ort’s appreciation for the bush. Henry on the other hand was raised in the city, when he walks through the bush he makes a crashing noise and does not look out for snakes. Henry is from the city, Ort is from the country and Tegwyn is a bit of both. In the end, Tegwyn...