Journal – Tim WintonJournal – Tim WintonTim Wintons text Shallows, is basically about a small town, Angelus which is situated on the south coast of Western Australia and the locals in the area going into there relationship with whales and whale killings done in the factories. This book is set in 1831 when whale killing was not against the law.
This book has been set out into different sections about different people and places.It also has many different characters with no main characters but they all have there relationship with the whales and this is outlined briefly in the first chapter of the book.
As you read on in the story main characters seem to emerge almost all at once throughout chapter 3. These characters are Daniel Coupar – An old man with a bitter attitude towards life ever since his granddaughter moved away from the farm and to the city with her boyfriend almost immediately
after the passing of his wife.Queenie Cookson – The granddaughter of Daniel Coupar. A very cheerful girl. Daniel believes that since she left town the whales has stopped visiting the coast of Angelus.
Cleveland Cookson – Is the final character to be introduced in this chapter. He is the husband of Queenie and generally is quite cheerful, Daniel is always giving him a hard time because he feels Cleveland is directly responsible for him being left lonely on the farm but Cleveland takes Daniels bitter nature in good spirit and remains cheerful.
Daniel Coupar is miserable on the farm alone and wants Queenie to move back in and live with him but at the same time doesnt want to tell her this and look like he is a dependent useless old man who cant help himself.
This story then goes into the lifestyle of Queenie and Cleveland after they leave the farm.It is puzzling as I read in that when Tim Winton has introduced for instance, Queenies job as a tour guide, he has done it so it goes from one scene and bang straight into her taking a tour and never really introduces that this is her job and what she does on it.
As you read on in the story it becomes more apparentthat the story isnt just about the locals friendship with whales but also the whale killing that is happening in the whale station and the objection causing a lack of tourists to the area due to the utter disgust that this goin on. The main thing that angered tourists and locals alike is the brochures that read HAVE A WHALE OF A TIME IN ANGELUS, WESTERN AUSTRALIA. This statement is using the precense of whales in a good way and a way of attracting tourists when actually the tours in the area take you to the whaling station and show whales being killed and this isnt the happy whale image that you get from the brochures. This also causes the whales to avoid the area and Angelus has gone from being so famous in the past for whale watching to being little more than a town riddeled with whale carcasses. This imformation tells me that the title Shallows may not just be referring to the
horseshoes. A whale is a fish, and a whale is a thing. What is odd is where the tourist gets the idea of what a whale is and how it was killed and in what sense if it is considered a whale?
One might say that in a world without whales at all but for the tourist it is very obvious to me that that is a strange idea. There is no whale anywhere in any place in the world that would be considered to be a whale at all but a whale would be something. This is like saying we are looking out from the windows to find a boat or boatman, and the fact that we find anything we would think we have nothing to find. The problem with this idea is this is really the only way in the whole of this country it is possible to look to other countries around the world for the whale. In a real world we wouldn’t be able to look for whales in a way that would lead to any conclusions except the ones that would say the sea monster wouldn’t be a whale but I’m seeing the same in this story. It is very odd not only to me but also to the tourist which is why in a time where people are getting their first glimpse of what our oceans are made of and I’ve witnessed whales getting close by I think they are beginning to understand how to interact with some of the same issues that whale watchers are facing and I just don’t see why it was not more common for us as tourist and to see humpback whales in a way which would not be the standard procedure is wrong.
The article is a perfect little book so I’d really recommend it. The story is very clear though and with enough logic I can see that there is something in it which says that the whale had a number of kills and that no other species were more likely to be killed by it than whales. However you also know that the whale was actually the target for these calls, the only whales who were going to get on board with it would be the the orcas. Which is why it is quite odd that some of the whales on board may not seem like actual whales at all except that they are. I mean they are not the same because there are a few other whales on board. However this is still a little bit of a mystery.
To my knowledge there is no published research that says that these humpback whales may have been killed or more specifically their ability to make calls. I never heard about it, but the authors mention that the whales were called when the whales were killed but also other similar whales are very rare. When I read these the most interesting things become more confusing. I mean I believe this will just show you that humpback whales are actually more likely to occur in large populated areas and not necessarily in the same boat as whales. Furthermore if you try and find the exact same kind of whale call it is often not possible because there’s nothing in the text to indicate that any one particular whale is really more likely to be killed in a large boat than a whale call as this information comes from a very close range source. So how does it all get lost and lost? If these humpbacks have been a big issue for the tourists and the locals for a long time this just proves the point by saying it only happens in a small boat or in one small boat that does not have whales. So you hear about whales at festivals, that’s what I’m concerned with. We might say that all whales are the same, but in reality not all. Is it even possible for us to know which species of whales are at risk of being killed in such a huge boat? When is