Tim Winton utilizes a first person confessional narrative voice in order to amplify the ways in which people and alternative environments can transform an individual. Post-graduation, the main character and Biggie, unveil their stagnation due to experiencing post school “blues”, which is catalysed from discovering the successes of their peers, whilst coming to terms with their future. This notion is encapsulated through the visual imagery, “The sky presses down and the beaches and bays turn the colour of dirty tin…. Wearing beanies on our heads and the horizon around our ears”, whereby the colour symbolism enforces that their current life situation is subjected to darkness and denotes his claustrophobic entrapment within his world due to his
