Addiction and Abuse Theme Analysis

After the deaths of his brother-in-law Uncle Nick and his wife Mum, Dad’s guilt and grief spiral into alcoholism and the subsequent abuse of his three sons, Harry, Miles, and Joe. Much like the often-volatile natural landscape of Bruny Island where the Curren family lives, Dad’s unpredictable, menacing behavior is a looming source of terror for his three boys. His presence is confusing, particularly for Miles and Harry, as they respect him as the family’s provider and head of household yet resent the fear and instability he brings to their lives. Through Dad’s character, Parrett illustrates how substance abuse can distort otherwise normal people into monstrous versions of themselves, and how the effects of addiction are far-reaching, extending well beyond the addict.

Although Dad is a predominantly negative force in his sons’ lives, his sporadic tender moments throughout the novel show that he is not wholly, inherently evil. Rather, he is a complex, deeply flawed individual who is plagued by addiction and tortured by the demons of his past wrongdoings. Dad is implied to have once been an involved, caring parent, as evidenced by Miles’s memory of his father taking care of Harry and brushing his hair when he was younger. While Dad’s current patterns of cruelty could potentially be attributed to an innate character flaw, this dramatic shift in his demeanor suggests that there was a time when he genuinely cared for his family.

However, after Martin, one of Dad’s fishermen, is injured and must take a leave of absence from working on the fishing boat, Dad’s behavior progressively becomes more turbulent and criminal. Under the sinister influence of his other fisherman, Jeff, Dad begins frequenting the local pub more often and grows increasingly more neglectful and sporadically violent toward his sons. This progressive moral dissolution shows the complexity and malleability of Dad’s character as he falls deeper into his alcoholism. Even in the midst of this mistreatment, Dad still shows slivers of compassion and concern for his sons, as when he apologetically brings Miles fish and chips for dinner after an alcohol-fueled incident of violent abuse. This rare display of care further suggests that Dad is a nuanced character beneath his addiction.

The transformative power of Dad’s alcoholism has a detrimental impact not only his own psyche, but on the entire structure of the Curren family. The fear of Dad’s brutality redefines Harry, Miles, and Joe’s lives, which were once safe and content, and all three boys are driven toward various outlets of escapism. When Joe is thirteen, he goes to live with Granddad after Dad breaks his arm in a fit of drunken rage. The fear and trauma Joe experiences at the hands of his father affect him to the point that he hand-carves a boat in hopes of leaving Bruny Island. The great lengths to which Joe is willing to go in order to escape Dad’s mistreatment illustrate the profound, lasting impact of his father’s addiction-fueled abuse.

Without their older brother in the house to watch over them, Harry and Miles are left to fend for themselves. Both boys’ lives are fundamentally defined by Dad’s abuse as they adapt to his unpredictable mood swings and unreliability, too afraid to ask their father for food or even to cross his path to use the bathroom in their own house. Amidst this instability, Harry and Miles both search for sources of escape from their home life. Miles’s love of surfing and Harry’s relationships with George Fuller and his dog Jake are attempts to fill the void left by their father’s neglect and the subsequent collapse of their family. While the two younger boys can’t carve a boat and sail away like Joe can, they clearly long for escape from their father and yet are forced to center their lives around him and his addiction.

Although once a typical father figure, Dad’s alcoholism eats away at him until he becomes a different person altogether—a warped, twisted version of his former self, who instills a constant sense of dread in his three sons. Dad’s abuse of Harry, Miles, and Joe shows the detrimental effects that addiction can have on the family structure. Though the silver lining is faint, Dad’s relentless abuse ultimately serves as the catalyst for the three boys’ unbridled thirst for adventure in the outside world.