Abuses of Power and Authority

A New Kind of Dreaming

Abuses of power and authority

Sgt Butcher

 Grabs Jamie around the throat and threatens him.  Breaks windows and later sets the school on fire

 Blames Jamie and tries to turn the town against him

 Locks Jamie in the police Wagon – Jamie nearly dies

 Behaves as if he is above the law – he is judge and jury

 Kidnaps Jamie and leaves him bound to a pole in a remote shack to die

 Covers up the the death of the refugee man on the boat

 Kidnaps the refugee girl and kills her to cover his earlier crime

 Kills Mc Pherson

 Kills the troubled boy and blackmails Lorraine about her relationship

 At the end of the story Butcher sets fire to the boat where Jamie is hiding.

Why do you think Butcher got away with so much for so long?

Why does Butcher pick on Jamie? Clue: think about the other boy.

Lorraine

 Lorraine has relationship with a young man in her care – which is breaking the law and professionally unethical ( even if above the age of consent)

 Lorraine lies to protect herself and is scared of Butcher.

 She warns Jamie but doesn’t protect him

 She flees only to perish whilst trying to cross a flooded stream.

Lorraine is weak and scared of Butcher. She fears losing her job and going to jail for having a relationship. She fears Butcher more because he murders the boy Constable Mc Pherson

McPherson was on the boat with Butcher. He feels responsible for the old refugee man who is killed by Butcher. He doesn’t think it was self protection. He thinks Butcher committed murder.

He feels weak and frightened that he could go to jail if Butcher lies about what happened. He feels he is being trapped and forced to stay in Port Barren. So he turns to alcohol to wash away the pain.

Constable Robb

Constable Robb is reluctant but forced to do Butcher’s bidding.

Robb protects the boys when they are hiding in the boat

Robb tells Cameron where to find Jamie

Robb doesn’t act until he has evidence, even though he is suspicious about Butcher and hears the stories. Robb shoots Butcher in the end.

Cameron

Cameron helps Jamie and backs his stories up but people don’t believe him.

Goes to rescue Jamie and together they return to Port Barren after being trapped in the desert.

Obviously has strong character and believes in justice and doing the right thing.

Jamie has a feeling that something was wrong with Port Barren

Jamie has dreams about the boat and the girl. He becomes very suspicious of Butchers and his motives

Jamie finds out about the girl from McPherson

Jamie denies any wrong doing

Jamie is motivated by justice. He feels he has been punished for breaking the law and believes Butcher shouldn’t get way with his serious crimes because he is a policeman. The Essay

“ A New Kind of Dreaming deals with the abuse of authority and power. Explore how the author deals with this issue in the novel.”

Restate the topic with some explanation about your point of view about the topic.

The Plan

Introduction. A NOKD explores the theme of the consequences of the abuse of power by a powerful police sergeant in the small isolated coastal community of Port Barren. The author, Anthony Eaton challenges us to consider how people should behave when they know crimes have been committed.

Paragraph 1

Butcher and the Abuse of Power. Discuss the various things Butcher does and why they are abuses of power. Pick three or four. Are his crimes worse because he is a Police officer?

Paragraph 2

Lorraine Discuss the Lorraine’s abuse of Power - Discuss how and why she fails to protect Jamie. Discuss why she doesn’t report Butcher

Do you feel sorry for her in end or is this rough justice and consequence of her running away from her past?

Paragraph 3

McPherson is blackmailed by Butcher into secrecy but is murdered in the end after saying too much to Jamie.

Is he coward for being a policeman and not upholding truth and justice? Paragraph 4

Jamie the hero Jamie doesn’t back down to Butcher but is nearly killed once in the back of the truck and then nearly perishes in the desert. The evidence he collects puts Butcher into jail. Jamie wants justice for the girl

Paragraph 5

Constable Robb saves Jamie by shooting Butcher. He finally upholds justice when he has the facts.

This paragraph can be put with Jamie’s paragraph.

Conclusion

The purpose of the conclusion is to briefly sum up your arguments or point of view and link back to the introduction.

“By the end of the story, justice is seen to be done and the guilty characters have been brought to account for their crimes. Butcher is charged with several serious crimes and will spend many years in jail…” Add on about the other characters