Fly Away Peter, written by David Malouf, is an Australian novel that looks at the horror and destruction of war and in particular its relation to the ‘human condition’ through the effects it has on the subconscious of Jim Saddler, the novels central character. In a short timespan Jim has to deal with issues such as loss of innocence, self-identity, the division between the elite and the working class, and the impending effect of war which further presents the issues of life and death and those of the old and the new worlds. Malouf uses foreshadowing throughout the novel to highlight key themes particularly those focussing on the binary opposites of civility and savagery.

From the very beginning of the novel Malouf presents the issue of old and new worlds. The sanctuary, being the old world, has an underlying feeling of civility. ”...intensely blue mountains that were soft blue at the time of day but would …show more content…
He asked in a last moment of innocence.” (P.37) Yet continues to steadily decline throughout the rest of the novel. “At the head of the crowd, on the shoulders of one of the white-suited navy boys, was a little fair-headed lad in a kilt, who was waving his arms about among the flags. He seemed significant in some way – the crowd had chosen him as a symbol – and Jim felt disturbed; he couldn’t have said why.” (P.27) With Jim’s loss of innocence he begins to see things in a different way. Previously he may have marvelled at the procession, at its grandness, its unity, its civility but now he saw it in a new light, disturbing and savage. The child, a symbol of innocence, being seen as disturbing, seen as an animal offered in sacrifice, foreshadows the further loss of innocence to come and the savagery that follows. “They faced one another with murder in their eyes and Jim was surprised by the black anger he was possessed by and the dull savagery he sensed in the other man…”