essay

The world Ronald Hugh Morrieson created was a pivotal piece in the grand design of his novel. Using the world he created, the grand designer - Ronald Hugh Morrieson was able to relay his intentions in a subtle way to those who glance through his work of art but glaringly obvious to those who peer deeper into the rabbits hole. The imaginary world of Klynham - the setting for the final act of Salter the Sensational, was created to relay the authors' perceived feelings about small town New Zealand. The characters that litter his world also create symbolisms representing his intentions, such as the Lynch gang representing the always present, albeit trivial, evil of Klynham, also, with their actions and intentions shown in the novel it also shows the intention of Ronald Hugh Morrieson (RHM) that even small time bullies like the Lynch gang - if they do not control their emotion and evil desires - can become something hideous and monstrous such as Salter. Every human being has a dark side and it is explicitly shown in a very smart way through his imaginary world.

Klynham was dear to RHM, after all it was his birthplace and death bed. The town Hawera, known as Klynham to those who endeavour into his novel "The Scarecrow" was something RHM wanted to emphasis greatly in his book. He wanted to emphasis the ugliness and imperfect life in small town New Zealand. As a boy growing up and having lived his whole life in Hawera, gave RHM the ability to write objectively about the place he lived in, exposing what Hawera was like underneath the pale makeup of deception, revealing the crooked edges and the dim lit streets of Hawera. He exposed that even in towns where supposedly life would be peaceful and serene had its fair share of the immoral, the drunks, the perverse and the evil.

Evil is ever present in the novel, from the beginnings of the novel till the end of it. The puddle that never disappears represents the constant evil of the uninteresting, irrelevant and boring town of Klynham. This puddle or evil is represented by several characters in the novel, such as Uncle Athol. Uncle Athol at first glance may not seem very much evil at all, however, Uncle Athol, the drunkard, the self-centred man was the root of the problem. Uncle Athol represents the match which starts the inferno. His drunkard behaviour and immoral self-centred values, shown by when he sells Neds and Les's fowls causes the murder of Angela indirectly. Uncle Athol represents that evil no matter what shape, size and intensity can destroy lives.

Klynham is not all bad, the good of Klynham is very much represented, and after all evil was a puddle not a lake or a gushing river. The theme of good is represented by a few characters, Ned, Pru and their beloved mother, Les, Len and Angela stand out among the many. At the end of the novel, Good triumphs over evil, but at what cost? It is the cost of Angela's life, the innocent girl dies because of her attempts to try to evade the Lynch gang. RHM places, this very scenario before us to ensure we understand that Good almost always triumphs over evil but there is always a cost for victory, in this case it was innocence.

The imaginary world RHM creates gives us a deep insight into the life of the average small town dweller. His intention of creating characters like Uncle Athol and Charlie Dabney was to show the flaws of the average person that lives in Hawera, and the ever present and persisting evil in people. Through his imaginary world his intentions of telling us about the battle between good VS evil also becomes clearly apparent in the scenario where Angela is killed, RHM uses his masterful world in an extremely effective way to relay his intentions to the people.

In the world of "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini, the main character Amir goes through much just like Neddy does in the Scarcrow, both novels end in the eventual triumph over evil, but, the cost of the victory is great. The Kite Runner uses its imaginary world to enforce ideas and intentions of the author to the readers as well, such as the rape scene in the back alley. It represents the lost of innocence and the betrayal of friendship. Although no betrayal is committed by Neddy, RHM still uses scenarios just like the rape scene to symbolise and to relay his intentions to the readers.

Ronald Hugh Morrieson uses his characters, the setting - his imaginary world to great effectiveness, he uses it to create a world full of life and depth. He creates a work of art seemingly to tell the New Zealand people a dramatic moral story about the very lives New Zealand small town folk live. Shown clearly throughout the novel, he warns us of the ever present dangers of our innermost desires and to remain steadfast in the control of our indecent desires.