Fly Away Peter

by

David Malouf

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Fly Away Peter makes teaching easy.

Bobby Cleese Character Analysis

One of Jim’s fellow Australian infantrymen in World War I. Bobby Cleese is fond of telling stories about fishing in Deception Bay, which is not far from where Jim grew up. Jim enjoys listening to Bobby talk about their home country, especially when they find themselves taking cover for long periods of time with nothing to do but worry about their lives.

Bobby Cleese Quotes in Fly Away Peter

The Fly Away Peter quotes below are all either spoken by Bobby Cleese or refer to Bobby Cleese. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Language and Naming Theme Icon
).
Chapter 9 Quotes

But more reassuring than all this—the places, the stories of a life that was continuous elsewhere—a kind of private reassurance for himself alone, was the presence of the birds, that allowed Jim to make a map in his head of how the parts of his life were connected, there and here, and to find his way back at times to a natural cycle of things that the birds still followed undisturbed.

Related Characters: Jim Saddler, Bobby Cleese
Related Symbols: Birds
Page Number: 61
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13 Quotes

[Bob Cleese] was a bee-keeper back home. That was all Jim knew of him. A thin, quiet fellow from Buderim, and it occurred to him as they lay there that they might understand one another pretty well if there was a time after this when they could talk. Everything here happened so quickly. Men presented themselves abruptly in the light of friends or enemies and before you knew what had happened they were gone.

Related Characters: Jim Saddler, Bobby Cleese
Page Number: 94
Explanation and Analysis:

It was a great wonder, and Jim stared along with the rest. A mammoth, thousands of years old. Thousands of years dead. It went back to the beginning, and was here, this giant beast that had fallen to his knees so long ago, among the recent dead, with the sharp little flints laid out beside it which were also a beginning. Looking at them made time seem meaningless.

Related Characters: Jim Saddler, Bobby Cleese
Page Number: 98
Explanation and Analysis:
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Bobby Cleese Quotes in Fly Away Peter

The Fly Away Peter quotes below are all either spoken by Bobby Cleese or refer to Bobby Cleese. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Language and Naming Theme Icon
).
Chapter 9 Quotes

But more reassuring than all this—the places, the stories of a life that was continuous elsewhere—a kind of private reassurance for himself alone, was the presence of the birds, that allowed Jim to make a map in his head of how the parts of his life were connected, there and here, and to find his way back at times to a natural cycle of things that the birds still followed undisturbed.

Related Characters: Jim Saddler, Bobby Cleese
Related Symbols: Birds
Page Number: 61
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13 Quotes

[Bob Cleese] was a bee-keeper back home. That was all Jim knew of him. A thin, quiet fellow from Buderim, and it occurred to him as they lay there that they might understand one another pretty well if there was a time after this when they could talk. Everything here happened so quickly. Men presented themselves abruptly in the light of friends or enemies and before you knew what had happened they were gone.

Related Characters: Jim Saddler, Bobby Cleese
Page Number: 94
Explanation and Analysis:

It was a great wonder, and Jim stared along with the rest. A mammoth, thousands of years old. Thousands of years dead. It went back to the beginning, and was here, this giant beast that had fallen to his knees so long ago, among the recent dead, with the sharp little flints laid out beside it which were also a beginning. Looking at them made time seem meaningless.

Related Characters: Jim Saddler, Bobby Cleese
Page Number: 98
Explanation and Analysis: