Teachers Notes for Lost Property   A Novel by James Moloney Published by Penguin, 2006 Notes by Pam Macintyre   Overview Josh, who has just finished year eleven, has a holiday job in the Lost Property Office at Central Railway Station, Sydney. Routine you would think, but lost items can represent more than their physical value, and for Josh, they represent widening his knowledge of the human condition. Josh is seventeen, and superficially, has an easy, routine, materialistically comfortable life: he attends a private school, plays in a band comprised of good mates, has an attractive girlfriend who is keen to take the relationship further, and is supported by a loving family. However, it is gradually revealed that this is a family that is only appearing to be holding itself together, but is covering for the absence of one of its members – each member is pretending in their own way. Also, the spiritual faith that has provided the core of Josh’s family’s and his world, and the Sunday routines that accompany it, can no longer give his life purpose: he doesn’t believe anymore. What replaces faith? Josh (unknowingly) displaces this personal quest by going in search of his brother, Michael, who, after rebellious acts, was forced to leave home by his father two years earlier. No one knows Michael’s whereabouts, and during his occasional phone call home, he will only speak to Josh. A serendipitous event at the Lost Property Office precipitates Josh’s quest - under the guise of a holiday with friends - to bring Michael home. However, Josh is in for a few surprises when he meets up with Michael in Mackay, and the focus of the story shifts from finding Michael, to finding himself. The following ideas are suggestions for exploring this text, though it is not anticipated that all areas would be looked at, neither are the aspects highlighted seen as sequential. Reading commentators such as Perry Nodelman and Mavis Reimer reminds us that young adults’ enjoyment and interpretation of literature come from their repertoire of knowledge and literary strategies being activated by the books they read, and by dialogue with others (The Pleasures of Children’s Literature. 3rd ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2003, pp53-54). It is this approach, that of suggesting ways of thinking about the novel, and discussion of ideas, that motivate these teachers’ notes. Central Ideas Consider that this is perhaps a book of, and for our times. We are an affluent society, which has come to measure individual, corporate and political success in terms of material wealth and power, and which admires individualism rather than collective responsibility. • This book asks us to consider alternative values – what makes us ‘good’? • Is there such a thing as altruism? • What is the nature of love? Is Dad’s act of setting Michael ‘free’ an act of unselfish love? • Can we make amends for hurting others? • Moloney doesn’t spell out all the answers for us and our responses will differ according to who we are and how we view the world – and the kept family secrets symbolise this. For example, is Michael selfish and immature? How does Phil balance his son’s needs against his wife’s? • The first chapter is a ‘parable’, if you like, of the woman and the lost brooch whose only value is sentimental and emotional. Why do you think Moloney has opened with this scene? Does it have greater significance once you have finished reading the book? • Kelly is a character who, as well as being appealing and acting with agency, symbolises another important value in the book. For example, Josh surprises himself (p213-4) when he tells Michael that Kelly is beautiful. Then he reflects that rather than mere physical attractiveness, Kelly’s beauty stems from her being happy with her life and being loved and loving.   Title Perhaps a good place to start in terms of exploring the novel’s central ideas would be with the title. Students could be invited to consider all its reflections in the story, perhaps beginning with the Lost Property Office itself, and what Josh learns there that shifts him outside the safe, comfortable home and school life that has thus far been his world. This is terrific book for examination as there are few clear cut situations: Moloney does not deal in moral absolutes and we the readers are invited to make up our minds about the characters, their motivations, the effects of their actions. Characters Moloney has always created memorable characters: think of Carl in A Bridge to Wiseman’s Cove, Nuala in Touch Me and Dougy and Gracey in the eponymous books. Josh: is also a vivid character whose rite-of-passage is affecting and written with remarkable insight. He comes from a sporting family but is the academic, musical one. Despite his preference for music, Josh keeps playing football when his talented brother, Michael, gives it up, because Josh senses his father’s disappointment. • While Josh narrates the novel and is acutely aware that life is changing along with his physical self (‘It was a reminder that my mother was so much shorter than me’) we are still given others’ views of him. For example, on page 21 Gemma criticises the band’s sincerity – and Josh’s angry protest singing. ‘Poverty!… A protest against poverty from guys playing thousand-dollar instruments…’ (p20), and Josh acknowledges that she is right: ‘…she’d found me out in a way, shouting things I didn’t believe into the microphone and pretending things that weren’t part of my life at all’ (pp23-24). • On page 203 Michael says about Josh, that ‘he doesn’t even drop lolly papers on the footpath’. Is Michael implying that Josh is too obedient, and perhaps, a bit self-righteous? • On page 84 when the rest of the band criticises him, Josh becomes defensive – what does that tell us about him? • On page 90 Josh says to Alicia ‘words I thought up just to make her happy. They were like the lyrics of a song, not really mine and so I wasn’t responsible for their meaning…I said them for the effect they created.’ Is Josh a shallow person? Or is he comprised of the contradictions that characterise us all? For example, a few pages later (p101) he gives up what he wants to do to have a cup of coffee with his clearly distressed mother. What sort of person is Josh? • On page 110 Josh puts on an act in the band – it is not what he is feeling. Consider that one of the problems for Josh is that his life is full of performances – for the band, for Alicia, for his father, in church (p112). He calls himself a fraud. Is he?   Dad (Phil Tamling): is a former rugby star who played for St George. He is well-regarded in the community and by Josh. He is a ‘good’ man. We learn about him by what others say about him, and occasional pivotal actions, such as his buying of a Fender guitar for Josh (p15), which signals his support of his son’s choices. Another revealing incident is when Josh recollects clearly his father’s heroic actions in saving Michael’s life (pages 28-31). • Phil’s strength of character is formidable. How hard would it have been for him to know where Michael is living, and yet not contact him? Michael: is five years older than Josh and is estranged from his parents, living outside Sydney. He had almost died from alcohol poisoning when he was 16 and had been in trouble with the police. He is the ‘prodigal son’, the ‘wild one’ whose underage drinking and smoking marijuana at home were designed to deliberately provoke his parents. He appears to be aimless, and throws in an apprenticeship. It’s as if there are two Michaels. On page 189 the world Michael has created for himself is described – the world of work, of mateship between men, a world in Michael is respected: ‘No one had ever held Michael up as a model for me to emulate before’ (p188). Kelly describes him on page 197 as having ‘a kind of energy’. • Michael, after Josh finds him, is a different person from the rebellious and difficult brother he was at home. Why do you think he had to leave home to become who he is? • Like Josh, Michael is composed of contradictions. For example, he is very self-absorbed and doesn’t understand the cost to his parents of his refusal to communicate. Josh couldn’t cause his parents that grief – is that because he’s lived it? • Is Michael a stereotype with his Commodore, stubbies and thongs?   Mum: is slowly collapsing under the heartbreak of losing her son. The description on pages 209-10 of Michael as a little boy holding up the sun so the day wouldn’t end for her shows the depth of the relationship and why she is so burdened. Josh tells Michael that he was always his mother’s special boy – and still is. Hayley: thirteen, makes occasional appearances, but is not a major player in the story, which is essentially about the three males. However, she is barometer of the state of the family, particularly her mother (p73).   Clive Staples: Josh describes most of the characters physically (especially Alicia and Gemma!) but his description of Clive is the most evocative (pp33-34). He is not physically appealing as described by Josh, but has other qualities: he is sensitive and kind and can divine when people have lost something dear to them, no matter what they look like. • He represents the essential goodness that Josh recognises can exist in people without a religious faith. For example, on pages 115-116 Clive has a ‘feel for things’ that people will value – is he crazy old man? What motivates altruism? ‘I don’t feel like I’m alive unless I’m doing some good in the world’ (p119).   Alicia • Josh’s girlfriend, who is treated badly by him, isn’t she? It’s her physical beauty rather than her person that attracts him, isn’t it? (p25-26). • On page 81 is Josh being patronising about Alicia? Does he really care for her? What does that make you think about him? • On page 83 he describes their relationship. Do you think Alicia would be happy with this description?   Gemma Also beautiful, but a spirited, independent thinker who challenges the rock band. Josh is physically attracted to her and also likes sharing ideas with her even though they disagree on matters of faith   Music • What role does music play in Josh’s life? How important is it to him, and to have the approval of the other band members? • On page 108 Gemma says that Josh doesn’t like the singing that the band want him to do. ‘You’re not that kind of singer’. What is she referring to? • How important is his leaving the band? Is it just to avoid Gemma or does it represent something more? And why does he go back? • Is it about changing musical tastes? Do you like the same music that you liked in grade 6 or year 7/8? What do our changing musical tastes reveal about us? • On page 247 when Josh is singing the song for himself, it appears that the song and the singing are cathartic. Josh himself labels it ‘a lament, a confession’ . What is lamenting, confessing? • Does this singing ‘for himself…It was not put on, it wasn’t an act’ signal a change in Josh himself, not just his way of singing? Is it ironic that singing for himself connects him with the audience in a way that he hasn’t before? Gemma’s reaction is that it was ‘real’ . What does she mean? Consider that Josh likens the emotion to that of his dream.   Significant Scenes Josh betrays Clive and misreads Clive’s intentions regarding the objects in the suitcase (p79). • What does it tell us about Josh that he sees bad motives in Clive’s collection of objects, even though he has got to know Clive and has seen him be insightful and sympathetic? Do you agree with Josh about Clive or do you think the author is inviting us to see him as jumping to conclusions? (p80). This links to another crucial scene: The search on the train (chapter 16). • Has Josh lost the plot? Is it a moment of epiphany? What is Josh searching for? James Moloney says of this incident that Josh is unaware that this frantic, crazy searching is ‘metaphoric – that it’s what is lost within him that he’s searching for’ (Viewpoint 13 (4) 2005: p6). What do you make of Josh’s object gathering? Why do we do crazy things? Singing the Don Jennings’ song at rehearsal (p245-248). ‘It wasn’t put on. It wasn’t an act’ (p247). • Discuss the significance of the performance and the choice of song. Write the music, or choose the music that you think will suit the words Josh sings. Justify your choice. (You might like to know that the original song was the Beatles’ ‘You’ve got to hide yourself away’ sung by John Lennon and covered recently by Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam – excluded from the book for copyright reasons – and given new words by the author). It might be fun to reveal this after students have written/selected the music themselves, for comparison. It might also be fruitful to talk about whether knowing the intended song has an impact on the scene itself, and how readers respond to it. Josh’s Dream (p226-7) • Ignes Sodre tells us that dreaming is ‘the unconscious capacity to create narratives which represent aspects of the internal world in symbolic form…a dream is a form of unconscious communication with oneself’ (A S Byatt & Ignes Sodre Imagining characters, London: Chatto & Windus, 1995: p230). How do you interpret Josh’s dream? • There are patterns and connections throughout this book and Josh’s dream might make you think of his train journey home after work when he reflects on the woman who had found her brooch and the memory of pure happiness (p9) Pages 167-169 Josh is robbed and bashed. • What is the purpose of this episode? Alone without money, how do you survive? What would you do?   Faith James Moloney says about Lost Property ‘…Australian society only ever whispers the word God, preferably in private between consenting adults…Yet, at the same time, up to a third of Australia’s young people are educated in schools professing a religious base and more Australians than not claim belief in some kind of creator/deity’ (Viewpoint 13(4) Summer 2005 p6). • Do you agree that we are reluctant to talk about God? Why might that be? Josh’s shift from a position of faith in his Catholic beliefs to non belief is not sudden, but a gradual process of serious, intellectual contemplation and is affected by his relationship with his father. For example, he says on page 55 that he attends church because he doesn’t want to disappoint his Dad who is a believer. Choosing is not easy. For example, the initial rush of freedom is replaced by uncertainty – ‘But that freedom had taken me further, into the open, and out here there were no walls and nothing to hang on to’ (p72). • Unlike Alicia, Gemma is prepared to talk to Josh about belief in God, and offers counter arguments: ‘But I like the idea of a God watching over us. It’s a comfort, especially when something bad happens’ (p109). Is that why people believe? • Josh asks Gemma ‘Does it make any difference to what you do though, Gemma?’ She replies ‘The things I do each day are just the way I am’ (p110). Do you agree with Gemma? • Again on page 143 Gemma tries to explain the place of her faith in her life. But Josh says that religions are just ‘trying to make rules to suit their own view of the world.’ Who do you agree with? • Josh anguishes over his choices: ‘There’s something triumphant in being so sure of what you believe, or in my case, what I don’t believe….but all the same I hadn’t counted on mornings like this when an emptiness opened up inside me despite my rock-solid certainty’ (p112). Is it sometimes just easier to believe?   Biblical References It is not drawing a long bow to suggest that this novel has a strong Biblical parallel with the parable of the prodigal son. Indeed, Moloney himself says ‘At one point Josh steals food from (metaphorical) pigs, like the prodigal son was forced to do…’ (‘Whispering the word’ in Viewpoint, 13 (4) 2005, p6). You might like to look up the parable of the prodigal son in the Bible in Luke chapter 15. • Moloney has reworked the Biblical version in several ways. What does Moloney’s version suggest is the ‘message’ in his version? Consider that the father’s final words in Luke’s gospel are ‘He was lost and is found!’ Consider how he has reversed the older/younger son configuration, and that the ‘good’ son, is beaten, broken and destitute before he finds his ‘prodigal’ brother, who needs no rescuing at all. • Also in Luke 15 is the parable of the lost sheep, in which the shepherd goes in search of the one lost sheep, although he has ninety-nine safe ones. ‘When he has found it, he carries it on his shoulders, rejoicing’. Moloney subverts this doesn’t he, because Josh does not bring the lost sheep home with him? Michael must make the journey and reconciliation with his father himself, in his own good time. Consider how this further confirms Moloney’s themes.   Language The opening paragraph is striking in its imagery and use of simile: ‘…as though she were a stubborn stone blocking the stream. Her solitary figure seemed dwarfed by the station’s massive roof…’; ‘the ribcage of rafters’ (p1). • Discuss why Moloney has chosen this opening scene and how it is an important introduction to the story. There are plenty of other examples of rich use of figurative language. Some I enjoy because of the strong sensuousness and imagery they create are: ‘the words scurried away like cockroaches’ (p198); ‘a massive bougainvillea clung to Michael’s side of the house, crowning the tiny front porch with a headdress of deep pink’ (p191); ‘A lazy breeze sniffed at the nets above our heads…’ (p204); ‘The day was wilting towards sunset as though the languid tropical heat sapped its energy as much as ours’ (p208). • Find some you like and use them as models for your own writing.   Symbolism Clive’s suitcase (p121) reveals what people value, and why. • Can you understand the value of these objects? Or do we generally value what is monetarily valuable? • What is precious to you? What would you hate to lose? Family On page 204 Michael describes his mother, which doesn’t fit with Josh’s view of her, or his memories. • Think about your own family and how different each member’s perceptions can be of each other, or even of family events. Family secrets On pages 130-3 Josh’s father reveals that he had known where Michael was for a year, but had not told the others, especially his suffering wife. • Why? • Michael and Josh keep Josh’s trip to Mackay a secret from his father. Why? ‘We’ll tell them one day, though, when they’re grown up enough to handle it’ (p265) says Michael about his parents – has the balance in the family changed? • ‘Maybe there were some things Mike would find out when he was old enough to handle them too’ (p267). Why does Josh think that Michael couldn’t deal with the knowledge that his father knew where he was all that time?   The Nature of Love • Is it ‘hard love’ that prompted Phil to ask Michael to go even though he knew his wife didn’t want him to go? (p135) • Phil’s love for Michael means knowing he is safe and giving him space. Does this indicate that his love for his son is greater than his love for his wife? Humanism/Humanist Philosophers While this is a book that deals with relationships, it is also a book that deals in ideas. This can be very appealing to readers who would rather read for, and talk about ideas than emotional relationships. Religious belief and humanism are two big ideas that Josh and the book deal with. Some readers might like to explore these further. On page 257 Josh tells his Dad about the important moments in his recent experience – what his faith in God been replaced with. He is presenting his version of the humanist position: ‘I’ve worked out what the soul is, you see. It’s the good inside us. God or no God, the soul’s a human thing’. Humanism is an ethos, attitude or way of life centered on human interests or values, stressing an individual's dignity and worth and capacity for self-realization through reason and other human skills. It usually rejects supernaturalism, but some religious people consider themselves humanists. For a more extended definition see The Philosophy of Humanism by Corliss Lamont. Some readers might like to research more about this school of thought and its proponents such as Locke, Kant, Hume, Stuart Mill and discover who its contemporary adherents are. Consider Josh’s arguments for not believing in a supreme being: p54 Regarding the universe he says: ‘It made far more sense to accept that no intelligent force had anything to do with it at all – that it just happened.’ You might like to pursue this in relation to the current debate on whether the idea of ‘intelligent design’ should be taught in science or religion classes, or at all.   Quote for Discussion • P53 ‘God is not something you talk about, certainly not to mates like Dave and Neven.’ Why is God off limits? • P215 ‘The best things in life are the ones you go out and grab for yourself’. Do you agree? • P256 ‘It’s a matter of faith, Josh’. Is this the basic theme of the book? • P206-7 ‘…we weren’t a patch on our old man, no matter how hard we tried, we’d never be as good’. What is it like living in the shadow of a famous father? You might like to research some well-known examples. Further reading Belief/Faith • Aidan Chambers Now I Know • Ben Jeapes New World Order • Paul Morgan The Pelagius Book Values/Affluent Society • Scott Westerfeld So Yesterday • Clive Hamilton and Richard Dennis’s Affluenza: when too much is never enough • Colin Thompson & Amy Lissiat The Short and Incredibly Happy Life of Riley (picturebook) Being good • Amelie (film) • Being There (film) • Nick Hornby How to be Good Families/Sons • Gary Crew and Peter Gouldthorpe First Light (picture book) • Sonya Hartnett Thursday’s Child • David Metzenthen Stony Heart Country • Robert Newton Peck The Day No Pigs Would Die Families/Brothers • Peter Rose Rose Boys • Maureen McCarthy Flash Jack Lost Property • Shaun Tan The Lost Thing (picturebook)