New Kind of Dreaming free essay sample

A New Kind Of dreaming Anthony Eaton A New Kind Of Dreaming by Anthony Eaton is a story about a town’s haunted past and a boy’s troubled present. When Jamie Riley was sent to Port Barren, he did not realize that he would be drawn into the town’s shadowy past and into a web of secrets. As soon as Jamie stepped off the bus he felt â€Å"a sense of uneasiness and foreboding† [P. 31]. Port Barren is described as a town â€Å"full of menace and shadows† [P. 42]. Jamie’s social worker, Lorraine, warns him against â€Å"digging around in the past†¦Let people have their secrets. However, Jamie ignores Lorraine’s advice and so uncovers a number of terrible secrets. Seventeen-year-old Jamie has been sent to the desert town of Port Barren to serve a two-year sentence for car theft. His brother was sent to Jail for stealing the car. We will write a custom essay sample on New Kind of Dreaming or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page His mother died when he was young and his father is a drunk that never sees him, Jamie and his brother have had a few foster parents and they always hate them but Archie was different to Jamie he had no curfew or rules and they didn’t talk much. The novel begins with a prelude set six years earlier. It provides the context for the most disturbing secrets of Port Barren, those of the town’s police officer, Sergeant Butcher. He is responsible for the deaths of two Indonesian refugees. First they saw this old wooden boat that smelled really bad, McPherson the youngest one said they should ring the coastguard but Butcher said they should go for a look. McPherson got talked into going onto the boat, when they got onto the boat they found lots of dead bodies so McPherson was going to throw up so he ran out onto the deck, when he was throwing up old man come up behind him and was going to hit him with a machete but Butcher hit the old man first, Butcher hit him so hard that he killed the man, so Butcher said to McPherson that that will be there little secret but little that they know there was a little girl on the boat watching them. So they took the boat back to Port Barren and then they found the girl in boat but before the air doctor Butcher killed her so he wouldn’t get in trouble. Sergeant Butcher carries other dark secrets, namely the murder at Flahertey’s Curse of a youth offender sent to Port Barren, and the murder of Constable McPhearson, who knew too much. Butcher killed him because he told Jamie about the murder of the man and the girl so Butcher made it look like he suicided but really butcher killed him Jamie’s social orker, Lorraine also has her own humiliating secret, known only to Sergeant Butcher who holds it over Lorraine’s head, so when ever see was going to say something he would say that he would tell everyone The stories of the wanderers – Aborigines and Stolen generation By uncovering all these secrets, Jamie is able to gain peace for the murdered refugee girl, make Sergeant Butcher accountable for his crimes and restore balance. At the same time, he was able to gain confidence and self-esteem. Fortunately, Jamie ignored Lorraine’s request to leave the secrets of port Barren untouched because he brought justice and closure to many murky secrets.