Nine Days By Toni Jordan

1. Idea: Family

1.1. Theme: feeling connected through family

1.1.1. Point of View: Family is complex

1.1.1.1. Evidence: "Ma narrows her eyes at me. 'We'er half way up the hill young may and you talk like we'er still in the gutter. You'll keep until i get home. Don't think you too big for the wood spoon."-Jean p.g.10/11

1.1.1.2. Evidence: "I can imagine her face close to the keyhole. She has be pacing up and down the hall for the best part of ten minutes. She is imaging what might be disturbing. she is unsure how to mother a grown man."-jack p.g. 72

2. Idea: Place

2.1. Theme: where we live affects our lives

2.1.1. Point of View: place can influence who we become

2.1.1.1. Evidence: "The view is not the sun lit plains extended. Our part of Richmond, here on the hill, is an island. I can see over the roofs of the rest of it, mismatch shingle and rusty tin held down by lumps of rock and brick and jerry cans. A poor mans paddock, an endless filed of patchwork. palings missing from every other fence, taken for fuel last winter or the one before and never replaced."-jack p.g. 73

2.1.1.2. Evidence: "I'm sitting on the foot path between the pub and the brothel, leaning against a wight picket fence. I make a square from my fingers and hold it up to frame a tree, the edge of the building, the train tracks on the bridge. A futile attempted at composition. I have no easel, no sketch book. Not even my backpack. I left in such a hurry I brought nothing with me. Nothing except the shutter of my eye lids, the nubbed pencil of my memory."-Alec p.g.242

3. Idea: Death/Dying

3.1. Theme: That death is life changing

3.1.1. Point of View: Death can affect many lives

3.1.1.1. Evidence: "He taught us to take life with a light hart and he did this in the most unexpected way. He impressed on us that we would die that one day would be a last. He told us death is alway around the corner."-Kip p.g.129

3.1.1.2. Evidence: "No wireless playing, no one speaking. Ache in her stomach like a kick from a horse, why they let him go, why didn't they bolt the door to his room while he was sleeping. Mr Husting will be wishing he could have yesterday over and over again, for ever. They'll be holding that telegram until it crinkles in their hands."-Jean p.g. 211

4. Idea: War

4.1. Theme: The devastation war has on families

4.1.1. Point of View: Family's are torn apart and that young men did not return home

4.1.1.1. Evidence: "just because nothing's happening yet don't mean it won't."p.g.80

4.1.1.2. Evidence: "I feel his lips and the touch of it lasts and lasts and just when i think i'll drop my perch with dizziness, I hear the whistle and the stranger kneels and I'm standing and the train is pulling out. There's nothing but a blur except for Jack's eyes, Jack's face. i don't stop looking until the train is gone."-Connie p.g.292

5. Idea: Fate

5.1. Theme: Life can change in a moment

5.1.1. Point of View: Life may not always be what was planned

5.1.1.1. Evidence: "Maybe if Francis was the one who came seven minutes later everything would be different. I'd still be at school, for a start."-Kipp p.g.9

5.1.1.2. Evidence: "I look in his eyes and it is a mistake. They're soft, the colour of dark honey. There are all kinds of thourghts buzzing, thing i should say, should do, but i can't move. I just look and then it feel like falling."-Connie p.g.283

6. Nine Days Fate Life can change in a moment as Kip left school to work and provide for the family after his father died. Looking back, he thought that if he had been born first life would have been different, that maybe he would have still been at school, his father may still be alive and his sister Connie would have not died having an abortion. If he had been born first he may have not met Annabelle his wife, he would not have had his two children Stanzi and Charlotte and he would not have been a photographer for the Argus. Francis may have been more successful and had a better paying job, he could have had a family and a nice place to live. He was spoilt because he was born first and given everything, life may have been different for Francis if he had been born second. Evidence: "Maybe if Francis was the one who came seven minutes later everything would be different. I'd still be at school, for a start."-Kipp p.g.9 Life may not always be what was planned, jack would watch Connie from his bedroom window, he would watch her dance in the garden. The day he brought lemons to the house he never thought that they would have a relationship and that she would end up pregnant to him. One night of passion changed Connies life forever and Jack would never know lasting effect as he boarded the train that day on his way to war. Lives were change, Jacks family lost a son and grandchild they didn’t know about, Connies family lost a daughter, sister and child. Evidence: "I look in his eyes and it is a mistake. They're soft, the colour of dark honey. There are all kinds of thoughts buzzing, thing I should say, should do, but I can't move. I just look and then it feels like falling."-Connie p.g.283