Key Themes and Ideas in "Eye The Sky" by Tim Winton
Key Themes and Ideas in "Eye The Sky" by Tim Winton
That Eye The Sky, written by Tim Winton, thoroughly explores the themes of love, family and friendship.
The most important thing in Ort’s life is his family, especially after he looses the friendship of fat cherry,
who had been his best friend for his entire life. Ort does not always understand his family, but he loves
them unconditionally. The Flack family is held together by Sam Flack, Ort’s father. When Sam has the
accident and goes into a coma, the Flack family slowly starts to disintegrate. Ort’s sister, Tegwyn, had
been having problems with depression for a while before the accident. However, when her father is
injured and the one constant thing in her life is disrupted, she falls deeper into her own illness. Henry
Warburton enters the Flack household after the accident and offers to help with Sam. In some ways he
takes the place of Sam, and this is why Tegwyn starts to like him, eventually running off with him.
The themes in That Eye The Sky, are explored using symbolism. By far, the most important symbol in
the novel is the sky. Before Henry enters the life of Ort and educates him about God and religion. Ort
sees the sky as an eye which looks over the world and sees everything. He used to talk to the sky. After
discovering religion, the sky, for Ort, takes the place of God. The sky symbolizes God throughout the
book and Ort talks to God through prayer. Another strong symbol in the book is the countryside and
trees, Sam and Alice Flack choose to move to the country after getting married so that they can live
around trees. The countryside symbolizes the true nature of the Flack family.
Tegwyn has always been different form Sam, Alice and Ort. She likes the city and does not understand
the other members of her family. Although she has been raised in the same place Ort and is able to walk
through the bush without making a sound. She does not have Ort’s appreciation for the bush. Henry on
the other hand was raised in the city, when he walks through the bush he makes a crashing noise and
does not look out for snakes. Henry is from the city, Ort is from the country and Tegwyn is a bit of both.
In the end, Tegwyn runs off with Henry to live in the city. The city is also represented by the hospital.
When Sam has his accident, he must go to the hospital. Both Alice and Ort find the hospital, harsh and
cold. The vast difference between the Flack household and the city symbolizes the difference between
the city people and the country people. Tegwyn begins as a country person but slowly, through the help
of Henry, turns into a city person.
Ort cares about his family almost too much. He feels that anything can happen to them if he’s not
watching out for them. This feeling is strengthened by Sam’s accident. Ort was already in the habit of
peeping through windows and holes in the walls, this behavior is increased after the accident. Ort does
not understand why his former best friend, Fat Cherry, does not approve of this action. Especially after
he learns about God. In Ort’s mind God is like the sky, He can see all and hear all, so Ort does not know
why it will make a difference if a persons son or brother sees them as well. After all, they are already
being watched over by God.
Another very strong symbol in That Eye The Sky, is the light above the house that only Ort can see. This
light represents religion. Although Henry knows all about religion, he does not really practice what he
preaches and therefore can not see the light. At the conclusion of the book, when the light fills the
house, Alice is able to see it as well as Ort. Throughout the book, Ort is seen by others as a simple boy.
In actual fact he is not that simple, he sees things that others don’t see and most of the time keeps his
mouth shut about it. Even after others tell Ort that there is no light in the sky and that he is imagining it,
he persists to believe, and it is the faith in God, which in the end heals his father.